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Control

Why do we as humans have such a hard time accepting the fact that we have little control? If you think about it, we can control very little. We can't even change much about our appearance! Clothes and haircuts, yes, but shapes, skin and hair colors, and big-picture appearance characteristics? No.

We also cannot control others - what they say, what they do, when they say it, when they do it - none of that is in our control.

We can't control society - the economy, pop culture, current events - individuals have very, very little control over these things.

The Earth - climate, natural disasters, animals - all function outside of our control.

Our lack of control is at times frustrating but other times so liberating. Why frustrating? Sometimes I would love to control what comes out of someone's mouth or how they respond to situations. Why liberating? I am so very glad that I am not responsible for making society function or any of the other monumental things mentioned above. It's freeing to know how little I am responsible for and that our huge God is aware of every detail outside of my control...

So how do we live fully alive despite the fact that our control is so minimal?

The keys to living fully alive and thriving despite our limited control are faith and releasing ourselves from worry over that which we cannot control. We must have faith that GOD is the one in control, and He is working mindful of those He loves (us). Therefore, we can rest, because someone who loves us more than we love ourselves is in charge. The faith also comes in because we must accept his sovereignty, meaning that we may not always like what happens on Earth, but we must have faith that He is seeing the bigger picture.

Banishing worry is also essential to thriving despite our limited control. We absolutely cannot thrive if we are inflicted by continual worry over things that we cannot change. I have tried to live this way. It is absolutely miserable - fearful, burdensome, dreary. Thriving begins when we banish worrisome thoughts about things beyond our control.

If you want to live fully alive while balancing the tension of how little you can control, ask God to increase your faith and help you say no to worry about things outside of your control.

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