So, Who is In Control?

A week ago, I had a reminder that any belief that I am in ultimate control of my life is an illusion.  Saturday of that weekend we experienced the beginning of the ice storm from a Colorado Low which had been predicted.  This prediction was unfortunately worthy of a Biblical Prophet being right on target.  The ice storm on Saturday was followed by a power failure on Sunday morning which lasted until Monday evening for us in Parkhill. 

All the plans for the weekend were cancelled, at least for us, including a 90^th birthday party in Grand Bend, church Sunday morning at St. James. Parkhill, and a tea and vintage fashion show at the Carnegie Library in Parkhill where I was supposed to provide mood music on guitar.  We were without the amenities and necessities provided by electrical power.  It is amazing how you don’t realize how much we depend on electricity until we don’t have it.  As it says in the song from the 1960ties, “Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.”

This experience is a reminder or perhaps it is a realization that we are not in control.  It is very easy for us to succumb to the illusion that we are in control of our lives. I went on retreat in he week after Easter to Apple Farm, a contemplative community in Three Rivers, Michigan.  I believed in my heart of hearts why I was doing this, hopefully for all the best reasons, and that I knew what I was getting into.  I knew in my head what I would be experiencing.  It is always more challenging in reality than in theory, I still had a fairly clear idea and knew it was my decision to do it.  In effect I believed I was ultimately in control of my destiny, even on a retreat.

However, the power failure made me face the reality that when you get down to the nitty gritty of life. Any idea that you are ultimately in control is just an illusion.  We have a need to believe that we can control what will happen to us.  We try as hard as we can to maintain that control.  And to a limited extent we are.  However, we consciously or unconsciously try to ignore the reality that our lives are actually ultimately out of our control. 

We try to do all we can to ensure that our lives will turn out as we desire; we will have good health if we eat right and exercise or at least not abuse our bodies.  We do the right things and we will be rewarded with the life we believe we want.  However, a relatively small thing like a power failure for 36 hours show us that we are at the mercy of forces that we cannot control. 

The only true constant in our lives is the voice of the Divine calling us to our true home with God our heavenly Father.  This might be the voice of the Holy Spirit or the voice of the Good Shepherd―yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday.  We desire control because we are fearful of what will happen if we do not have control. 

Who knows what curve life will throw at us.  And that is reality.  The illusion is that we can control our lives and keep ourselves safe from those things.  However, our true security is in God.  It is in the voice of the Good Shepherd calling us to our true home, our spiritual home.  That is the home which is always there for us.  That is where we are loved unconditionally for who we are and not what we accomplish.  That is where there is a room that is truly our and where we are always welcome.

Blessings on you journey.