Help! There’s not brake on my side of the car!

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2 Kings 20:1 “…Set thine house in order.”

I’ve given a lot of thought the past few days to the concept of setting my “house in order.” The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that it’s as much about what I don’t do as it is about what I do. The word that practically jumps off the page at me in that short verse is “thine.” It’s not your house, my spouse’s house, my neighbor’s house or anyone else’s house that I need to set in order. It’s mine.

I’m not as bad about “back-seat” driving as I used to be. I know Harry is a more than competent driver, and I’m usually content to read my book while we’re on the road. I say “usually” because that’s not always the case. If traffic, weather or road conditions stress me out, down goes the book and I’m on “high alert” for the duration of the trip. Is Harry an inexperienced or careless driver? Of course he isn’t. Is he driving recklessly or too fast for road conditions? No, again. The only difference is my own state of mind.

It’s kind of like that with my prodigal. When I’m spiritually fit, I can usually take my hands off the prodigal’s life. Knowing your prodigal is making a mess of his or her life is just part of the journey…I know that, and so do you. And I’m usually ok with letting happen what’s going to happen. Again, that “usually” isn’t always the case.

As long as that “situation,” whatever it might be, hasn’t become a crisis, I can pretty much keep my hands off and my nose out of the prodigal’s business. But let it explode, and I sometimes find myself all over it again. Or let me find out about some new crisis, and I forget all about the serenity I though I had. And I have to ask myself why.

Is my prodigal’s life any more or less out of control because of what I know or don’t know? Is God any less God regardless of what I know or don’t know or can or can’t fix? You know the answer to those questions as well as I do. And it doesn’t have to be a prodigal that’s making us act crazy, does it?

It could just as easily be the doctor’s report, the paycheck, problems with our spouse or something else. And it isn’t always what we know…the things we don’t know can sometimes take our minds captive and hold us in bondage unless and until we get the result we think we need or until we “know for sure.”

How silly! I’m not really foolish enough to think that “knowing” gives me anything other than the illusion of control. I know I can’t really control people, places, or circumstances. At least, I know that sometimes just as I know that I can’t drive the car from the passenger’s seat. And what I’ve found, without exception, is that whether I’m reading my book or sitting there with my foot on an invisible brake, someone other than I is in control of the car. I just need to let it go.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, stopped trying to control people, places, and things and just worried about setting our own house in order?