We love to be in control. I love to be in control. We surround ourselves with items that make us feel like we are in control of our lives. Sure we like to call it “choice”, but isn’t it really all about control ?
How else would you explain the plethora of electronic devices that promise you control ? Examples you say ? How about the DVR. Nothing promises the “choice” of being able to watch what I want and when I want more so than the (in)famous Digital Video Recorder. Nowadays any cable or satellite subscription without DVR is snuffed and frowned upon as archaic. And as we get one item, we want the next. I don’t want just any DVR. I want a DVR I can control via the web. Which has multi-room viewing capabilities. So I not only have the “choice” of what and when. But even where. Don’t want to watch what the rest of the family is watching ? Just retreat to my bedroom and watch what I have recorded previously. After all, what may be the others choice or what may be on the myriad of channels available now, is not what I would want. I like to “choose” what I watch. Or more accurately, I like to be in control of what I want to watch.
And companies play clever marketing on our need for control. How about a burger “my way” ? Or a drink with any flavor combination that I may want. More flavor combinations than I can realistically consume in a lifetime. 24 hour a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. I like my “choices” in what in eat or drink. Or, you guessed it.. we like to be “in control” of what we eat and drink.
But then there’s these occasions where things happen completely out of our control. Our family just experienced that. No matter how much we wanted to be in control, to tell the doctors what to do, to help, to heal, we are reliant on their advice and actions. And no matter how hard they tried, no matter how many tests they do, with all the scientific tools at their disposal, sometimes even they are not in control.
So who is in control ? Is anyone in control at all of what happens around us ? As Christians we believe there is. We say it in the Lord’s prayer that “His will be done in heaven as it is on earth”. His will. Is it His will that we go through all of this ? If so, doesn’t that make Him a cruel God ?
I don’t know. I don’t know why, I don’t know how. But what I do know is that during this period of loss of control, we have experienced support, love, care and prayers that we otherwise would not have experienced. The selfless care of others while they are trying to make our worries less burdensome have brought tears to my eyes. That so much care and love can exist within our friends that they relentlessly call, text, facebook and email. That they take time during their busy days and heavy schedules to pray. To pray for us, for our daughter and for the medical staff. Those are all things I wouldn’t have experienced if I were in control.
So with all the worries, all the bad, all the difficulties. Once in a while, there’s worthwhile things that pop up when I don’t control the things around me. And sometimes, just sometimes, those things remind me that it’s good to let Him be in control. I would just make a selfish mess of it all.
So perhaps it’s good that once in a while I don’t control things. Perhaps it would be good for you to let go once in a while as well and see what happens. Just as long as you don’t take my DVR away.