I admit it. I'm a control freak. That 7-letter word follows me around as I move through my work day, interact with my husband and children, and go through my life. I know that the more I try to control a situation, the less control I actually have, but I still try. I also know that God moves more freely in my life when I give up control, but that doesn't always stop me, either.
So I decided to write on this topic after my day yesterday, when I was presented with three "cases" for letting go of control. I really didn't realize that each of these things were related to control until I tied them together just before drifting off to sleep last night. Maybe someone is trying to tell me something.
First, I was reading the morning paper and came across an article about how people view their finances. The article said that many people live a life thinking that "life is hard and you have to work hard for every little morsel you might get out of it." That quote stopped me in my tracks right after reading it, because I thought not only about how hard I work in my business to make things happen, but on the flip side, how many good things have come into my life with seemingly no work at all. That is, when I consciously "let go and let God" things come into my life with a greater ease, a little more magic and surprise, and a lot less control. This sort of set the tone for the day.
Later in the day, I read a story about a man I really admire, Archbishop Charles Chaput. He has been serving the Catholic Church in Denver for 14 years and is truly an inspirational leader. He received a phone call in July and was asked, on behalf of the pope, if he'd accept the position of Archbishop in Philidelphia, a city undergoing a great deal of turmoil with their recent Archbishop. Without doubt, a very difficult situation to walk into, yet without hesitation, he said yes. Now, would I do that, I thought? Never. I'd never say yes right away to something that had such great implications to my current life and lifestyle without giving it a great deal of thought and consideration. I'd need to be in complete control of that situation before giving my answer. When asked how he could make such a life-changing decision like that in a split second he said, ". . . I am a man of obedience and I know - with joy and peace - what wonderful accomplishments happen when people are obedient . . . you say yes without calculating its implications for yourself." Whoa. Now I'm no archbishop, but I thought - how wonderful it would be to just say "yes" with that much faith.
Later on in the evening as I was winding down the day, I watched a new TV program called "Name Change". The show takes a famous person, in this case, comedian Kathy Griffin, and has her trade lives with a not-so-famous person with the same name. The not-so-famous Kathy Griffin had to live the famous Kathy's life, including appearing on a TV talk show and delivering a 5-minute stand-up comedy routine. While the not-so-famous Kathy was a professional business woman, poised, and well-spoken, she was scared out of her mind to deliver the stand-up routine. She was definitely out of her comfort zone, and she broke down from anxiety before the show started. In the final moments before her routine, she pulled herself together, got on stage, and ended up delivering a routine that invoked laughs from the audience. It was a huge accomplishment for her personally, because having to step out of her "control-zone" was the most liberating thing she had done for herself in years.
Aren't these examples exactly the way we should think about living our lives? While most of the time I'd like to be completely in control of a situation, perhaps next time I'll think about the times that things just magically happen in my life when I let go, or the times when I should just say "yes" without thinking, or the times when I need to step out of my comfort zone and just go for it. What would life be like, then? Out of control? Maybe. But perhaps more likely, it would be a life worth living.
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