Sit on those hands

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. (C.S. Lewis)

Better to have little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil. (Proverbs 15:16)

Back in the day, we watched wholesome programming depicting the 'ideal family'. Leave It to Beaver, My Three Sons, and Happy Days seemed to depict people all getting along, easily resolving any kind of conflict that might arise, and working together on projects to see the best of life emerge. How many of us realize that 'real life' isn't all that smooth, people don't always work together well, and conflict is almost inevitable? Inner turmoil is the outcome of striving for what we don't have, probably don't need, and almost certainly don't have the best of motivation in seeking in the first place. Aim is important - without proper aim, we could hit almost anything, but 'anything' may not be what we really want!

God's plan is to put him first. What does that mean really? If you are anything like me, you probably find yourself asking God to take the reins in your life, then you reach out to tug on one of them again, not really fully trusting him to get you to the hoped for destination. As soon as you tug on that rein, he loses that position of 'first' in your life. Almost as soon as you tug, there is this 'conviction' that comes putting you on notice that you just took back the control you said you desired him to have. God's intent is to honor your intent - you might 'say' you want to put him first, giving him full control of your life, but your actions speak much louder than those words!

Contentment comes when we stop striving for control and settle into the wonder of all God has prepared for us. To move from being 'in control' into the place we allow God to actually have the reins fully in his hands requires trust. All contentment begins with establishing trust - full trust in the one who has control of the situations and circumstances we call 'life'. The 'little' we have in Christ will far outweigh the 'much' we can obtain in our own power. In actuality, the 'little' we imagine is really a whole lot more than we'd ever obtain on our own. As we launch fully into this new year, let us begin to trust God with the reins. It might mean we sit on our hands a bit, allowing that trust to be built, but when we do, God's plans outdo anything we could 'control'. Just sayin!