Monday, 15 October 2012

• Focused on Control

  A friend of mine wanted me to help him to learn to drive. Now he is a very tense kind of fella, very focused and organized, almost too much so. So we got in the car and off we went.
  
  At first he was doing ok, but then I noticed he was only looking at the road in front of him, not at his rear-view or left and right mirrors. So I made the suggestion that he start using the mirrors since they are just as important as what is he is looking at outside his windshield. Then a car came up in back and he got very tense and started to slow down, so I gently asked him to please speed up since going too slow is actually more dangerous than going a bit over the speed limit.
  
  After a few minutes as the cars were piling up in back I requested that he pull over when he could. He did pull over; the cars, now a long train, passed and I drove the rest of the way. He never could learn that the car is an extension of the body, and in order to be a safe driver, being relaxed and aware of ones surroundings is important. The car is not 'driven', or controlled. No, it becomes in some sense our body. You can't dance looking at your feet, and you can't drive if all you can think of is controlling the car. 
  

  Being a Christian is not about having control over others, or even ones self. 

  No, it is about letting go, allowing Christ Jesus to work in us in a manner that is not tense, angry, frustrated, or seeking to force change on others, or on ourselves for that manner. 
  
  Trust is a conscious choice, an act of deep faith, which allows inner avenues of grace to work to their fullest, allowing us to put on the mind of Christ Jesus.  The invitation and grace is always there -- a free response, which is a kind of death to an old way of life -- and is always presented to us at every moment. We are always at the beginning, never will we reach the end.
  
  Do you sometimes focus too much on control?  What would it take for you to relax this week and be confident in Christ?
  

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