By Lisa Buffaloe  

“Some of you say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.’ But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, ‘If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15 NCV).

In healthier days I felt anything could be accomplished. I would throw a quick prayer over my shoulder and jump in with both feet. My poor husband never knew what I would try when he left for work. When we lived in Illinois, our house had a tiny back stoop made of concrete—no deck or patio. I decided I could make a patio. Books were read, notes made, materials purchased, plans made, and a tiller rented. A male neighbor provided the manpower to wrestle the industrial sized machine out of the van and around to the back yard.

Once he was gone, I started up the behemoth contraption. The engine roared to life, the blades spun and dug into the ground sending seismic shocks through the neighborhood. I felt like a rodeo rider on a bucking bull. Every ounce of strength was taxed as I wrestled to keep from digging to the earth’s core. When I finally succeeded in shutting off the out-of-control, overpowered monster, I collapsed on the ground and surveyed the potholes, chunks, trenches, and valleys mauling our yard. My project definitely did not go as planned, but I did succeed in entertaining those living nearby.

God must be amused when I carry my calendar diligently mapping out my life when I am totally clueless as to what tomorrow holds. Life can be simple when I allow God in the driver’s seat and relinquish guidance to Him. He knows the past, present, and future. He has the perfect plan. When I grab for control, I wind up in the potholes of life or digging my way to China.

So today, I’ll take a deep breath, release the future, and remember that God is in control. The maker, the designer of the universe, my good, loving, just, wise, and righteous Father, is in control.

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control…” (Philippians 3:20-21 NIV).

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