Controlling Interests

What do you think brings greater satisfaction/joy/contentment/pleasure: Something you can control OR something beyond your control?

I think most of us, if we are honest, recognize that both can produce desired results. Yet, I’m suspicious that something beyond our control has greater potential for impact in our lives.

Most of us battle a need to control. Or, maybe what we battle is a loss of control. It’s the feeling of being out of control financially, romantically, with our health, in our jobs, among friends, with our reputation, our eating, emotionally, in scheduling our days, evenings, and weekends.

Any one of these can trigger a response to tighten our grip. Certainly, what’s at stake is a motivator. But so is our faith. Grace is God’s invitation to begin again; perhaps to loosen our hold.

So, here’s a thought I’m kicking around: When we celebrate grace, maybe we’re also celebrating something we can’t control.

It reminds of an early church father, Paul the Apostle, words which says, “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom.11:29). Grace means simply a gift. It comes from the Greek work, ‘Charis’. It’s where we get the word ‘charismatic’ or ‘charisma’. It’s that indefinable, indescribable quality in a person that makes them particularly gifted. In show business and performance art, it’s simply referred to as having (or not having) “it”. And, you can’t control “it”. You either have it or your don’t. Simply put, grace. So then, it’s what we do and how we leverage grace that helps us let go, un-clench our fist, or bite our tongue.

Maybe the question we need to ask isn’t, Do I feel in control? Maybe the question is, to what extent does the Creator have control of me?