Bright Spot: We find success once we admit we're powerless
According to some experts, the first instinctual reaction we have when we come into this world is the grasping motion. The clenched fist may be a prophetic warning of how so many of us will cling to the illusion we are in control throughout much of our life.
Control is well illustrated in the dark humor variation of the classic quote: “If you want to know if something or someone is really yours, let it go. If it comes back it is yours. If not, it never was.” The dark corollary: “Let it go. If it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t ... HUNT IT DOWN and kill it!”
Brutal ... and sick!
For some people, control becomes an idol that consumes us as we constantly keep the reigns tight on everything and everyone – especially our children, our spouse, our time, our talents and our treasures.
How can we learn to let go? We’d better find the answer as it’s nearly impossible to be healthy in every way if tightening our grip is the only exercise we get. Researchers in health and well-being are constantly showing how sleep and stress management are critical to physical and psychological health. Rest and control seem to battle each other for dominance.
For me, the answer to the “how” question is to breathe these simple prayers throughout the day: “Jesus I need you,” and “Jesus I trust you.” These are especially vital when we think: “I got this,” or, what is becoming one of my least favorite cliches: “We’ll figure it out.” Why my disdain for this common refrain? Because it says: “I’m in control.” Most often, we are not.
Your life leader may not be Jesus. But everyone is controlled by someone or something if you think about it honestly and ruthlessly, even if it’s “self.” The Bible teaches us that we are controlled by whatever or whomever actually calls the shots: “Don’t you realize that you become a slave of whatever you choose to obey.” (Act on, Romans 6:16) What or who is that?
The very last instinct we have is opening our hands in total release, or letting go. The “death grip” we exercise through too much of our lives is just the opposite. It’s only after we breathe that final breath that we relax those clenched fists that we’ve had too many of our days since we first emerged from the womb.
What say we learn to breathe deeply, and open our hands and hearts sooner than that.
Rick Sams is pastor emeritus of Alliance Friends Church.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Bright Spot: We find success once we admit we're powerless
