Watching Jennifer's father's health decline has been hard for me. I see the tears in his eyes, in Jennifer's eyes, and know that the pain of death is coming toward the Eikleberry's. I cannot stop it; the best that I can do is be as present as I can for all involved. The best I can do is help by making phone calls offering silent prayers and support to Don, to Jennifer, and to the family. But yet powerlessness can creep in at any point in this journey.
Like every church, we at Bethesda have people in worship who suffer. I see it in their eyes and hear it in their greetings at the door as they leave. They are thankful to be in worship, but the struggles and the pains of life stalk them--as they do us all--when we are not physically together. I can't prevent this pain and I can't make it go away either.
The lesson that I want to share with you is in response to the famous words of a Russian dictator. Lenin once said: "Freedom is good, but control is better."
Now as you read those word you probably will shake you head a little as you remember how Lenin's Russia was filled with stories of a dictator who broke the spirit of his people. You might think about the destructive nature of the quest for control. But notice how that quest lives in us when people around us suffer. We want to make it stop. . .
As I have watched Jennifer's father, Don, become weaker and weaker, and as I hear our prayer list grow longer and longer, it might be easy to either feel overwhelmed and attempt to manage or control what happens in our lives. We are a people who like to fix things.
But I wonder if today we can just take a breath and allow that "out of control" feeling float over to God?
Can you take a deep breath and slowly let God comfort and strengthen you?
God is the one who controls all of creation and all of life. When I feel powerless, or when I go through a time of challenge as I am now, I have to remind myself that God is big enough to handle this. Can we adopt this choice today?
Blessings
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