We are naturally biased towards action.
When something bears addressing, we move on it swiftly. Be it a flat tire, a crying toddler, or a leaky faucet, we are programmed to act. Resolution of individual issues is positive, but in time their collective resolution manifests in us a false sense of control. For we conflate our activity with control. And thus make plans consistent with our seemingly complete control. For we have allotted ourselves the role of both protagonist and author in life.
This power, or freedom, also brings with it tremendous responsibility. For if our actions are supremely determinant in our lives, then we are solely culpable for not only the good but the bad that we encounter as well. Furthermore, this perspective sidelines any supreme and leaves us with the sense that God is sitting around waiting for us to act so he can respond either positively or negatively.
Thankfully, this is not the case.
“What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.”
What a disappointing, but also freeing revelation. My efforts to achieve supreme understanding and maintain absolute control have always been in vain. Despite my best efforts, events and occurrences I had not expected to happen both on the positive and negative side have occurred. And continue to! For I am not required to achieve enlightenment and thereafter individually pilot myself through a wholly nebulous world, but to be listen and be responsive. God here is the supreme being, and when given the helm vice the sideline, gives us the alignment and peace we are unable to individually achieve.
We have a negative connotation with regards to follower-ship.
We are told from the beginning that we need to develop as leaders and accordingly applaud those who occupy positions of leadership. Even the pre-K we interviewed with sold leadership as part of their curriculum… to three year olds. What we receive far less instruction and commentary on is follower-ship. For we errantly fuse follower-ship with concepts such as gullibility, credulousness, weakness, and ultimately fear. The truth however could not be more contrary. For how much more courage does it take to admit we don’t have it all together or figured out?
Peace then comes not from stepping forward alone, but by quietly listening to God’s direction. The question we are left with is are we willing to relent control. It is a difficult question we will surely revisit throughout our lives. But if we are willing to admit that the events of life are beyond our understanding and control, then our only chance might be to place our hope in a being equally beyond our understanding and control.