Staying Under Control When Things Are Out Of Control

Have you ever played a game with a little kid? Maybe you’ve been around a group of little kids playing a game. It’s only a matter of time until at least one kid starts losing and immediately tries to change the rules. The post that was once “base” is no longer base when they can’t tag anybody. They can suddenly play all of their “draw four” cards at the same time when you call Uno. The kid that finishes dinner first suddenly loses because the winner was really the kid that finished last the whole time, even though everyone was scarfing down their dinner in order to finish first.

With the schools closed here in Louisiana and the Governor’s stay at home order, my entire life feels like a million combinations of scenarios that sound a lot like that. My kids are 6, 5, & 3. My entire life is surrounded by struggle for control. And I haven’t even started talking about the parent child dynamic. Kids are constantly fighting their parents to find the limits of their control, and the boundaries of their parent. In our house, we’ve got three little pirates on the verge of mutiny at any moment! Because just like adults, kids want to be in control when things are out of control.

Why do people hoard toilet paper when a virus has no symptoms that would require an abnormal amount of toilet paper? Why people obsess over the minute by minute news updates? Why do people practice civil disobedience? In times of uncertainty, the natural human response is to grasp for something, anything, that we can control. We’re all searching for something we can control in a time that makes us feel out of control.

Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote one of the most well known prayers ever written. You probably know it as the Serenity Prayer:

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did,

this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that You will make all things right

if I surrender to Your will;

so that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

This prayer is so incredibly powerful. It has resonated with millions of people because of it's beautifully written, yet simple truth that we all need to be reminded of: There are things that we cannot control. Our hope comes in knowing that God is in control. God is never caught off guard. He is never unprepared. He is never overwhelmed. He is never out of control.

Remember, when things are out of control, we can remain under control, because God is in control.

I can’t tell you that I always know the mind of God. I won’t even tell you there aren’t times when I question how God could possibly be in control, when the circumstances seem to suggest that nobody is in control. But that’s when we trust what we know to be true, not just what feels true in the moment.

We know God is the creator and sustainer of all things. We know God is aware of our circumstances. We know God cares about this earth, and the people He created. We know God has a plan. We know God is in control.

When that doesn’t feel true, ask God to grant you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It might not change your circumstances, but it just might keep your circumstances from changing you.