“Pour yourself a glass of wine, put on some lipstick and pull yourself together.”
-Elizabeth Taylor
Recently a friend gave me an adorable make-up pouch with this quote on it. I do whole-heartedly agree that lipstick is the cornerstone of all cosmetic collections, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s been some wildness going on in my head and heart lately, and today, as I admitted to God that I felt like I was going insane, He narrowed the tornado in my head down to the eye and in one word revealed the problem: control (or lack there-of).
You see, I have this chronic disease of trying to control; of trying to make people, places and things around me OK so I can be OK. This approach leaves very little time and energy to enjoy my own life and explore what God has designed me to be and keeps me focused on, and actually obsessed with, the behavior, choices, lifestyle, successes, failures, problems, disappointments, and fears of people around me. Usually the ones I love the most. The problem is two-fold, however. I am not the only one who suffers in this scenario. No one likes to feel that they are responsible for someone else’s well-being. And no one likes to be told – or as I like to say “encouraged” – to live their life according to someone else’s plan. As a result, they end up feeling resentful and disrespected and certainly not loved.
After I prayed (more like “cried out” or “vented”) about how I felt like I was going crazy and simple could not handle all the problems and challenges my loved ones are facing, God finally showed up. Or should I say, I finally hit my bottom and surrendered, admitting that my way wasn’t working and He could finally get a word in…ya, maybe that’s more like it. A few quotes from my Recovery reading for today that helped me see clearly why my peace of mind had blown clean away:
“Surrender does not mean submission – it means I’m willing to stop fighting reality, to stop trying to do God’s part, and to do my own.”
“The best way I’ve found to invite serenity is to recognize that the world is in good hands.”
“Today I can be grateful that the earth will continue to revolve without any help from me. I am free to live my own life, safe in the knowledge that a Higher Power is taking care of the world, my loved ones and myself.”
“There is only one person I am responsible for, and that is me. There is only one person who can make my life as full as possible-that too, is me…today I will keep hands off and keep my focus where it belongs, on me.”
After I went to the index and read every single reading on surrender and control (about 10 readings – apparently other people struggle with this same disease), I had clarity for the first time in a long time. At the bottom of the page for today’s reading I wrote, “it feels irresponsible to enjoy my life unless my loved ones are enjoying theirs.” This belief is one I need to kick out if I am ever to embrace and find joy in my one and only life.
I have to remember that God doesn’t have grandkids, He just has kids. And when I try to impose my Will on others, either directly (by offering advice they didn’t ask for) or indirectly (by praying to God that He do with them what I want done) then I am interfering with His perfect plan for them and missing out on His beautiful, exhilarating and personal plan for me.
It shouldn’t surprise me that when I went to my reading for today, Oswald Chambers entitled today’s entry, “Pull Yourself Together.” He wrote that in 1935, waaaaay before Elizabeth Taylor. His point was basically, “God is God and you are not.” And He’s “got this.”
I promise it will be worth the wait.
Sign up to receive updates by mail
Heather I struggle with the same thing. I finally had to surrender (not easy), a work in progress. Put signs up everywhere saying Surrender just as a reminder that I can’t control the world.