We love to get everything under control. We love everything situated where things won’t go wrong.

As you know, life just isn’t like that. As soon as we get control, things start to fall apart. Sometimes the feeling of everything working smoothly lasts for years. Sometimes it just lasts for a few minutes.

Entire industries are built around preventing things from going wrong. Mostly that’s a good thing. But it’s not always good to have control in our lives.

Losing control means an opportunity to lean into the One who does have control. Think of that old cookie jar. Our hand holds tightly to that cookie (something we want). As soon as we release our tight grip, we can experience new freedom. Our fingers can move again.

God is the only one who has control. Even though we don’t always feel like He knows what He’s doing, remember that He created us. “The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours; everything in the world is yours—you created it all.” That’s in Psalm 89. Not only did God create us, he created everything that surrounds us. So He knows the ins and outs of everything we are facing.

God spoke through Solomon with these words in Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” It’s that leaning into God again. Trust. Did you see the part about not leaning on our own understanding? That’s another way of saying it is time to release our tight grip on the situations we are facing.

As always, I am writing this as a reminder to myself. I’m addicted to control as much as you are. Maybe more.

(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday.)