Control vs. faith in grace
” … But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved — … For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ….” Ephesians 2:1–22 – By Grace Through Faith (extracts)
I was watching a film the other day, in which there was a young boy of about 10. He was mowing the lawn, one day. His father came to the garden checking on him. He noticed a patch of grass not having been cut and said to his son: Son, you have left this bit out. Let me show you how to do it right!” The boy looked up sadly and nodded in agreement. A few minutes later, the boy was putting his model airplane together in the basement. His father showed up angrily complaining about the smell of glue in the house. “You are using too much glue, son! Look! Let me show you how to do it right!” The boy stood up and as his father set down at the table the boy left the basement silently.
When we try and control the outcome of a situation, we disempower all involved and prevent God’s generous gifts to be revealed to us all.
So, why do we try and control life?
It is often because we are afraid that we are not capable of handling what is about to come. Though most of us claim to have faith in God, we still prefer our preferences!
Actually, there are many reasons for our controlling: we want to make sure that … we want to avoid … we want to create what we want, we want to prevent … Our tendency to control life around us actually stems from our sense of FEAR, INSECURITY, LACK OF FAITH, LACK OF TRUST, or similar.
And so I try and control situations where I feel that I am out of my depth, because I do not trust myself. I end up being upset and resentful because at the end of the day I do not get the ‘appreciation’ I may deserve for my contributions because I thought others to doubt me.
My experience, however, is that: ‘The water flows wherever it wants to, you can try and block it, but it always finds its way to go where it is headed.’ Water creates ripples. Disturbance is part of life.
Often when we feel heavy, tired, low or similar it often means that we are in against-ness, we are trying to block the flow of the water of live, we are resistant to something that Life is trying to ‘bring on’ into our life.
As an alternative we can learn to have true faith in God’s – often invisible – loving guidance which can also be called Grace.
What is Grace? Grace is the God’s overflowing Love for us manifesting in the physical in some way or another. However, in order to be able to receive God’s loving gifts for us we must let of controlling Life.
The fear we experience that makes us act controlling is actually unreal. It does appear real but in full honesty it is just a negative fantasy. So, what dissolves fear? Fear is completely dissolved in Love.
As long as we allow the Loving flowing inside of us we will not experience fear.
We must be aware, however, that LOVE is like a like a tender flower if it is not attended regularly it fades and slips into the back seat allowing so our fears run wild!
So, how shall we cultivate LOVE inside of us?
First of all, through meditation; focusing on the Divine Loving that resides in each of us. Over the past few weeks I have offered some exercises that we can do to nurture the Loving inside of us, such as the ‘beauty I see in you’ exercise or the observant exercises.
Here is the next one.
List some qualities of yours that you appreciate about yourself then chose one and ask yourself the following question:
What does this quality do and how would you put it into practice in your daily life?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5–6
