IN A FULL OUT SQUIRM

 Looking at this title I immediately thought of a worm.  NOW---I AM NOT a worm.  WAIT--perhaps I spoke TOO quickly.  I can be wormy (not physically).  

Recently I heard a sermon--45 minutes of teaching---all based upon ONE verse.

"Dear friends, God is good.

So I beg you to offer your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice,

pure and pleasing.

That is the most sensible way to serve God."

Romans 12:1

CEV(side note I am enjoying this new to me translation)

We all have heard this verse.  I have read it countless times and THOUGHT I understood.  Well I did---but the meaning has been emphasized by the teaching.  The High Reverend spoke early on of a sermon he heard on this verse.  We all understand from our reading the Old Testament that the sacrifices were made on the Altar.  This indicates the sacrifices were placed UPON the altar as a gift of love (sometimes atonement) to Almighty God.  When we begin to think of placing ourselves on that altar, it can become a bit uncomfortable.  The word picture he drew was us trying to squirm our way off the altar and back onto our throne.  GROAN---GUILTY!!!! 

My daily struggle is thinking I can control ANY of this!  There are too many variables and too little of me to accomplish much, if any, control over anything.  That is a daunting truth!

What God wants is our spirit of thankfulness and praise.  HE---and ONLY HE is in control.  When do we finally arrive at our destination on the Road to Sanctification?  When we finally truly realize Who is in control over all of this, or when we meet our earthly dead end.  I strongly suspect the latter will be the end of the line for me.  God wants so little---and yet, we are so hesitant to give Him it all.  I am working on my spirit of thankfulness---and surrender of my thoughts of control.

OUT OF CONTROL

I have almost finished a book which I will review soon that has me deep diving into the think tank.  It is NOT a book I would have ever chosen myself, but I saw someone put it in a list of their recommendations and bought it.  It covers many heavy topics, but today I will only address one-  our desperate turn to God when things are out of control.

As I read the book, it strongly reminded me of the recent events surrounding the pandemic.  It is so interesting to me that we seem to have quickly put all that behind us.  As someone told me at a point in my life, "it is old news now".  Would you take a moment and think about the turn back to faith during those troubling days?  When we began losing loved ones and saw the world effectively shut down, we were deeply troubled.   Things seemed out of control and we began to panic, so we turned back to God.  In a few short years, we seem to be back where we were pre-pandemic.

The truth of the matter is we all like to think we are in control, and truthfully, we are deluding ourselves with that opinion because things are going our way.  We turn to God in desperate times for desperate reasons, but the majority of the time, we think we have things under control until the next panic over the latest disaster.

When will we learn---we need God continuously ---24/7--for things are just a mess at best when we are at the steering wheel.  We are all student drivers, with no clue what wreck may be around the next blind corner.  SO--when will we learn---we need Him--as the old hymn says, "We need Him every hour"---not in the tough times---all the time.  I am really trying to turn it over to Him and quit worrying--leave my anxiety behind.  Until I learn to truly look to Him for guidance--I am a chronic mess.  I am a slow learner--but I keep my eyes on the goal and remember who is really in control.

"Be strong and courageous.

Do not fear 

or be in dread of them,

for it is the Lord your God

who goes with you.

He will not leave you

or forsake you."

Deuteronomy 31:6

WHEN OUT OF CONTROL!

 This is one of those times in life, when I am feeling out of control.  In case you have not picked up on it yet, I have a deep need for control.  Unfortunately, there are times and things which are beyond our control and, at this present time, I am squirming in my seat, obsessing over what I can do, and tossing and turning over what I can not.  I might write/talk a good game, but let me assure you---all is not well in Whoville all the time.  The question becomes what can I do and how do I react?

A perfect example of where I am going is my youngest grand (the baby of the bunch who is 3 1/2)  is taking swimming lessons.  I remember vividly my children taking swimming lessons and the same reaction as this grand in those early first days of swimming lessons.  TERROR!  would be a one word description.  LONG AGO--I learned to swim when my Dad threw me in the deep end of the pool.  In his defense, I am certain he had watched me enough that he knew I could do it.  I started with a variation of swimming underwater with a dog paddle when I needed to surface for  air.  My own children and all my grands have had swimming lessons from some independent teacher who could stand the first lessons of screaming and crying.  For you see, children do not come into this world with the ability to swim.  (Even in the waters of the womb--they can touch the sides) They are fearful and feel out of control when they are pulled into that pool for the first few times.  We were created to walk on two legs--upright--with something firm under us.  The pool, ocean, lake, pond, etc. usually does not afford that grounding.  We cannot learn to swim, float, and, not only survive, but enjoy the water until we get in over our head--where we cannot touch.  THUS the need for swimming lessons.  Once we learn---you cannot drag your kids away without kicking and screaming--but those first few lessons---when they feel out of control--they are kicking and screaming as you try to drag them in.  It is the fear of the unknown--that lack of control which sends us clinging to the side and climbing our parent's legs at drop off.  We quickly learn a need for control when we begin to navigate in this dangerous world.  We do not like--enjoy--or even tolerate when the road gets bumpy, the water gets rough, or we sense any troubled waters in life.  The road most traveled is the known level path --we avoid the rocky road with all our might.  It is the unknown, which is out of our control, that is frightening.  AND THEN, most of the time due to circumstances beyond our control, we are thrust into the deep end--of the loss of control.  Nothing we can do---no answers---we are set adrift in the tides of this tumultuous world without a paddle to our name.  It is terrifying to lose control!

What is the answer?  Our history should be reassuring--when we realize we have been here before and survived.  We have all lost control and survived to tell about it.  There should be the reassurance of  those in our midst who have braved the same waters and are here to tell the story.  We can look around us and know this too shall pass.  Finally and most importantly--there is the reminder that God is timeless and where we are is no surprise to Him.  God is faithfully present---in the good and in the bad.  God loves us--and wants only what is best for us--there are times we do not know what that best is.  This is when faith comes in to play.  Perhaps God is using this very time to grow us--show us--and sanctify us.  Hold on tightly to Him--when out of control and He will steady you in the rough waters, on the bumpy road, and in times of turbulence.  He is OUR ROCK!

"The Lord is my rock,

and my fortress,

and my deliverer,

My God,

my rock,

in whom I take refuge,

my shield,

and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold."

Psalm 18:2

WEDNESDAY'S WORD

 

Today's word was sent by a friend who has been my neighbor not once, but twice.   Obviously, there are reasons God has had us living close in two different neighborhoods.  Both neighborhoods have a special place in my heart and we still get together with our old neighbors from the first hood--long time friendships.

When they sent me their word, I laughed to myself.  First thought ~ is there any such thing as control?

I have a standard adage for parents with children still at home -

The only time in my life I was totally out of control

was while raising children.

The times I have felt totally out of control due to outside forces (such as children) and various other occasions of lack of control have lead me to have a need for control.    No matter how many lists I make or how well I think I have prepared, control can be illusive at best.  There is no way to ever be totally in control.  There are too many factors over which we have no influence  to obtain that moving target of control.

I have had control dreams my entire life.  Being unprepared for a test (sometimes walking into a course for the first time on the day of the final); falling (from various heights); and finally discovering I am unclothed in public (different stages of undress--from no shoes - to totally nude.  All of these dreams steam from a need for control that I obviously am feeling stressed over my lack thereof.

NOW---HOLD ON  --my desire for control comes from one place  -  I want to control my life.  I want to sit on the throne and issue the orders of how things should happen.  Queen of my own destiny (there's that word again).  What I have learned is just when I think I have things under control the world turns upside down again.

When I had finally arrived at the point in life that I felt like I was on cruise control headed toward the golden years, my life fell completely apart.  It took a LONG time to recognize there are factors which can turn the world upside down which we have NO control over.  There are NO guarantees in life.  Who foresaw this pandemic coming?  If you did have a glimmer it was coming, did you have any idea how it would change the world?  All of us are probably guilty of saying, "I wish things would just go back to normal."  And then we remember normal is a setting on the dryer, not a state of being.

Let me back up (I tend to go off at times) and give you the definition of control

the power to influence or direct people's behavior or the course of events.

I immediately see the problem with my lack of control.  I lack the power!  Do any of us really have the power to maintain perfect control over our lives?

There is only One who has this power.  Only one who maintains perfect control.  God Almighty.  He has the power to move mountains, to tend to the birds of the air, to cause the rocks to become bread, to part the waters, to cause donkeys to talk, to have whales swallow a man without harm, to create a man to use for His good purpose, and to raise the dead from the grave.  

Where should we look then, for that illusive control we so desire?  God Almighty.  My experience has been when I have prayed for change, God either granted my plea for change or He has given me the grace to accept the circumstances as His will.  A simplistic approach  ~  I prefer to believe it is implicitly God.

" ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,"

Jeremiah 32:17

Daily reminder for you to please sign up to be a subscriber on the right side of the blog page.  As always I love to hear from you--conversation with you is a highlight of my day.