The Universe Unfolds

My awesome Pastor sent me the most amazing prayer yesterday, called "Go Placidly Amid the Noise..." . I love it. (I guarantee that more posts about or inspired by this prayer will follow!) It's from the archives of the new World Prayers site. There are so many great, profound, and contemplative lines in it! I highly recommend you all read it...

But today I'd like to draw your attention to two lines in particular:

"And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."

Now, I don't know about all of you, but I like to know what is going on. I'm a busybody -- I'm nosy and curious and I like to konw exactly what's happening, what's going to happen, when, why, how...etc, etc. If plans are made, I want to know what they are!! I'm not one to be kept waiting, and I don't like just waiting and watching and seeing what will happen. I'd much rather know ahead of time, because I like to know what to expect and try to plan ahead!

And I think, even if you are the most laid back person on all the earth, at some point in time and to some degree, everyone feels the same way. I think it must be part of human nature; this unsuppressable need to know everything that's going on and know what's happening.

We desperately want to know the future. Think about it -- why else would psychics, Ouija boards, and fortune cookies be so popular? We are a society that is obsessed with knowing what the future holds and what our role is in it!

Why is that? Why is it that we can't seem to sit still and wait it out?

Is it a trust issue? Maybe it's hard for us to trust God and believe that His plan is the right plan. I know it's hard for me! There are times when I really struggle with that. I get so caught up in my OWN plans and ideas about the future that I forget to trust God. It's hard to put total faith in God's plan and trust completely that it will work out the way we want...because we so desperately want to believe that WE know best.

And that's where pride comes in.
One of my favorite lines is from a song called "On My Own", it says:

"I have learned that pride comes before the fall."

It's so true. We all too often allow our selfish human pride to get in the way of so much! Think about it: If we weren't so consumed by our pride, we would be able to realize that God DOES know best -- and we DON'T! (Sorry...this is starting to sound like the In Control?? post!)

Listen to what the Bible says on this very topic:

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." -- Jeremiah 29:11

God knows what He's doing. He already knows what's going to happen in our lives. And by following Him, He will give us a future with hope.

"A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." --Proverbs 16:9

And this brings us right back to the idea of our plans vs. God's plans. Imperfection vs. perfection. Ignorance vs. omniscience.... you get the idea.

That doesn't mean it's easy, though! Following God's plan often means forsaking your own plans. And at the time, that can seem the like the scariest, stupidest, most painful, most awful thing to do. And yet, God promises,

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way should go; I will guide you with My eye." --Psalm 32:8

We won't always know where are lives are heading...in fact, we very rarely will. We won't know what God has planned for us, or what He has in store for us. But regardless, we DO know that it will be thoughts of "hope". We know that God's plan for us WILL be the best way.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." --Proverbs 3:5


For more on this subject, I invite you to check out God's Plan for Your Life, which is a great site (written in easily-readable conversation style) that explores how the 1o Commandments help us figure out God's plan for our lives.

In Control??

As you've all probably noticed, I like to put quotes in my lovely little sidebar over on the right ------>
I look for quotes about dreams, leadership, nonconformity...things that inspire me, things that, I think, say a lot about who I am and what I value. So I was checking out some quotes tonight, and I was looking at a section about leadership and taking responsibility. In my reading, I came across a poem by William Ernest Henley, which ends with these lines:

I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

Now, I've read a lot of poems. But I don't think I've ever read two lines that scared me more then these did. Why? Just think about it for a minute...

First of all, I need to note here that I believe we are all sinners...but let me pause right here. A sinner is someone who commits something wrong; in other words, someone who is guilty of wrong thoughts, actions, or words. I believe that we can try as hard as we possibly can and still, we will sin. Every day. And there's no way around that -- but that's where God's grace and forgiveness comes in (but that's another topic for another post...) Now, I know some you that are reading this probably don't agree with that statement -- the we are all sinners by nature, no matter how hard we try.

Well, then I have to ask you flat out: Are you perfect? (Please be totally honest. You're not allowed to say, "Yes, except when..." or "Most of the time". It's all-or-nothing -- a yes or no question.) If you answered "yes", congratulations -- you are THE first perfect human being to EVER exist! Give yourself a pat on the back! But if you answered "no", keep reading...

The fact of the matter is, whether we care to admit it or not, we have ALL sinned (and continue to sin!)-- over and over and over again! And, whether we like it or not, there is NOTHING we can do about this. We can resolve to do better. We can try harder next time. But we will NEVER EVER EVER achieve perfection (I know. I have a really hard time accepting this too). Despite all the best efforts in the world, we will still succomb to temptation, make mistakes, and take the wrong path.

Are you start to get depressed? I am!! But I promise, there's a point...

Well, are you beginning to see why I find those two seemingly harmless lines of poetry so scary? Here, read them again:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Now, if "I" is an imperfect, sinning human being, and "I" is also the master of his fate and the captain of his soul...well, you see the problem.

We can't possibly make the right choice all the time...or even most of the time! There's no conceiveable way that we, as humans (and therefore, sinners) can always know what is best, always choose the right path, always make the right decision, and always turn away from temptation. Therefore, if WE are controlling are fates and souls, and WE make mistakes...!

"For all have sinnned and fall short of the glory of God" -- Romans 3:23

Your soul is forever. I don't know about you, but "forever" is not something that I want to make a mistake on!

And, when you think about it...if we are mastering and captaining (I'm not sure if those are words, but go with it) our soul, our fate...that's a HUGE amount of responsibility!!! I don't know about you all, but I get nervous when I have the responsibility of, say, taking care of class pets (frogs) for a weekend or walking my neighbor's dogs... and that's only for a few hours or days, at most. This is for FOREVER...for ETERNITY...for longer then we can possibly fathom!!

So here is my point: if we as sinners (imperfect, mistake-making humans) consider ourselves to be in control of our souls, where is that going to lead us? Quite frankly, we are going to run ourselves into a wall. Do you honestly and truly trust yourself to control where you will spend eternity? That's quite a risk. Do you honestly believe that you know enough about how to live, what choices to make and what's best for you and the rest of the world to take on that ENORMOUS responsibility???

Well, I can tell you right now -- I DON'T! I know for a fact that I can't handle that. I don't want to. I don't even want to think about controlling my soul or being the master of my fate -- YIKES!!

Thank goodness for us -- there is another option!!

Put quite simply: There is God. God is omniscient. He knows EVERYTHING, and even better, He has a plan for you and me and the rest of the galaxy. He's willing to take the blame for our sins -- in fact, He already has. He's willing to take us as we are -- the sinning, whining, imperfect beings we are. He's willing to take on the entire responsibility of directing our lives, mastering our fates and yes, our souls too. He's willing to lift that heavy burden of the responsibility of eternity from our shoulders and take the entire thing -- if only we'll let Him.

Why is it that we fight God on this? I can't figure it out. This is something I've been thinking about alot lately. Why do I, when I know quite well that I DO NOT know everyhing (sometimes I wonder if I know anything, actually....) and yet from time to time, I get these rebellious flare-ups and I try to insist that I know better then God. Me...that I know better then the One who created the universe and everything in it, including me...ha! And after times like these, I can imagine God sitting up in Heaven, sighing and shaking His head and laughing at my appalling and crazy behavior...It really must be pretty funny, watching us humans try to control our lives and our destinys, but really just making a huge mess of things in the process!

I know I'm sounding redundant here, but this is an important point...I think it warrants repetition :)

In the end, is it worth it? No. Sure, it's fun for a short time; me pretending I'm in control and that I really have a clue what I'm doing...but I always end up learning my lesson and rededicating my life God. I always come to the same conclusion -- that I'm just plain incapable of handling my life. So why even try? It makes much more sense to dedicate it to the One who made me and gave me my life then for me to go about ruining it out of pride and stubbornness...!

It all boils down to this: God knows what He's doing, and we, being the sinners that we are, cannot be trusted with the control of our souls. We can try to wrench control away from God, but it will always get us in trouble. So we need to simply relinquish that control -- which can be the hardest thing in the world to do, especially if you're a control freak like me -- and accept that He is God and He knows what He's doing and where He's taking us.

And it's amazing how simple life becomes after that. It is truly amazing how relieving it is to know that you DON'T have this massive, eternal burden -- that you just have to listen and follow and trust. :)