Dear Reader:

Isn’t our entire life built around a power struggle with our Creator? We acknowledge Him as God but then we deliberately diminish His status by trying to role-play His place in our own lives .

My doubts and falterings stem from not knowing where that invisible line is separating our place and responsibility towards cleaning up our own messes versus turning everything over to God. I feel guilty when I turn a problem over to Him and then do nothing. Instead of feeling good about my faith, I feel guilty for not doing my share of the worrying and solving of the problem.

Life is full of mysteries isn’t it and filled with lots of invisible lines.

This thought pattern is certainly not unique…we are all quite aware of this dilemma. I think Quinn Caldwell, in this devotional, did a good job of adding some more perspective to this universal problem.

“The Moment I’m In” – Quinn Caldwell

“For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place,
And also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite.“ – Isaiah 57:15

I know this: there are things that only God can achieve.  That doesn’t stop me from trying to achieve them on my own anyway.  Secure my own future.  Save the world.  Judge the lady next door.  Save the lady next door.  Protect my heart from breaking.

Inhabit eternity.  I’m not sure I get what this even means, but I’m pretty sure I try to do it.  I think it means something like living in all times at once, experiencing past, present, and future as if all were an eternal now.

I seem to spend half my time dwelling on past mistakes and poking at old wounds to see if they still hurt.  The other half I spend either plotting for desirable futures or worrying about undesirable ones.  And since I’m not God, the time I spend in the past and future is time I’m not spending here and now.  God can mastermind the future while noting the fall of every sparrow, but the time I spend focused on the past is time I’m not noticing my kids, or my family, or the beat of my own heart.  And I bet I’m missing a lot of good stuff.

So today, I’m committing to not be God.  I’m committing to not even try.  I’m committing to being present in the now, at least for a while.  For half an hour today, I’m going to do nothing but notice where I am now, to look for the gifts of God in the moment I’m inhabiting instead of the ones I’m not.  I will breathe, I will inhabit, I will be human, and I will be grateful.

So until tomorrow: Let’s let God be God and give Him more working space without us in it all the time like a worrisome mosquito…When God says “He’s Got It”…then let us give it to Him.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh