It is not even noon and today has been a crazy day. Maybe it is because we ate chicken on New Year’s Day (a superstition), who knows. My youngest got his driver’s license this morning, my middle child has strep- thank you Publix for free antibiotics, and my oldest is threatening to sleep in her car if her school does not fix her dorm situation. She ended up with the crazy, bully roommate who steals and breaks her stuff.
As a parent, I just want to fix everything. I want to make my daughter feel better. I want to shake someone at the school and ask them why they are acting helpless when they knew there was a big enough issue to put her in temporary housing until Dec 28. I want to be able to protect my son from crazy drivers out on the road. The lack of control I have in these situations makes me realize how much I need to let the control freak in me let go. I have actually made lots of progress on this over the years, but it still creeps up every now and then.
My husband has been a great mentor to me in this area. He has pushed me outside of my comfort zone and let me know that not every moment of my life has to have a plan, and I need to relax a bit and just let things happen on their own. As a parent, I have to let me kids succeed or fail on their own, and as a boss, I have to let my team learn and stretch so that they can grow. It is hard, but in the end it pays off.
So as a person who needs to “Let go, and let God”, the verse I am meditating on today is Proverbs 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Swimming Upstream 