Out of Control
Happy Labor Day, everyone! Have you ever had an experience when you just
felt out of control? Maybe it was a
severe car accident where you saw the collision just about to occur, but you
had no time to do anything about it except for cover your face, scream, and
brace yourself for the impact. Well, I
had one of those moments this past Wednesday, and for me, my experience came
while riding a horse.
I
was training my project horse Sterling, not necessarily just riding for mere
pleasure. What I was asking him to do
wasn’t a terribly complex maneuver, but he was very adamantly against complying
with my authority, which is surprising for Sterling who has a normally fairly
passive disposition. Now if you ride
horses or especially if you train horses, you know that it can be dangerous and
risky at times. Accidents happen. But Sterling’s misbehavior that day was
completely unexpected.
Sterling
had been fighting against the bit and throwing quite a temper-tantrum like a
three-year-old, when all of a sudden, he reared up completely unforeseen when I
asked him yet again to side-pass to the left.
For the end of the story, no, I was not hurt nor did I fall, and
Sterling was soon under my control again… and yes, worked doubly hard as
discipline. But that was my first time
riding a horse that had ever reared before, and I’ll admit, I was scared once
the initial panic subsided after the ordeal.
Sometimes, experiences are difficult to put into words, but I think my
riding instructor described it best.
It’s like your reins are your emergency brakes, and when your horse’s
head is up in the air like that, there’s nothing in the world you can do to
stop him. For that moment until he comes
back down again, you have no control over that animal, and you are completely
at the mercy of your horse. All you can
do is hold on and pray.
Later
I was reflecting on the morning when I realized just how often we all encounter
experiences like that in our own ways.
Life is like a horse. We’re
traveling along through life, feeling like we’re completely in control… when
all of a sudden. Period. The unexpected occurs. Something goes wrong when we least expect it
to, and we find ourselves out of control.
Our life is running like a car about to veer off the road and into a
ditch. We’ve lost the wheel, and we’ve
lost the reins.
But
even in that moment when I had lost control of Sterling, God had never lost
control of him. Even in our moments when
we feel like life is running out of our hands, God is still in control, and He
is still reigning in every situation of our lives. He still has the ultimate say, and He knows
what’s best for us… and yes, that includes sometimes letting us find ourselves
in that ditch in order that we may attain humility and refocus our perspective
of our need for Him and His direction in our lives. Sometimes we just don’t have any control at
all over situations in our lives and are helpless with the material tools we’re
accustomed to using. Like when the boss
lets you go from your job, when the tests come back positive with cancer, when
the bullies in school falsely accuse you of cheating. Our material minds just can’t get around
situations and circumstances sometimes. Isn’t
it good news though and so comforting and reassuring to know that in our most chaotic
moments and in the biggest ordeals of our lives when it seems like the walls
are caving in around us, He’s still in control and holding everything
together? In fact, it is in our weakest
moments that we realize just how strong and powerful He truly is.
Once
I had Sterling back under control again, it was a little intimidating returning
right to cantering him around part of the arena. I admit, the idea made me a little nervous,
and an anxious thought crossed my mind.
When we do lose control of our lives and have those frightening
moments when we feel like we’re about to crash, it’s scary to pick up the reins
again when God hands them to us. If
you’ve ever been on an organized trail ride at a commercial farm, you can
understand what I mean when I say that seasoned trail horses like that know the
trail they’re on. They’re heading out on
it for the sixth time that day, they know every twist, hill, and turn, and the
inexperienced first-time rider on his back virtually doesn’t even need to hold
the reins if he doesn’t want to. That
horse knows what he’s doing, and he’s just going to follow in line behind the
horse in front of him. He’s like a
mechanical horse. If you set a horse
walking along the rail in an arena and don’t steer him, he’ll probably just
keep walking around the perimeter of the arena, following the railing, circling
like a carrousel horse on a merry-go-round.
When God hands us the reins again, it’s easy to want to just leave the
reins where they are on the horse’s neck and just allow him to follow the
horses walking along the rail- we feel safe that way, but God doesn’t call us
to live our lives following in the well-worn path of the world. “For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” (Mt 7:13) He calls us to travel through life on a
different road, a different path that sometimes veers away from what is the
generally accepted course of the world’s society. It has twists and turns and the unexpected,
and therefore, we can’t just allow our lives to follow in the common footsteps
of others, but we need to pick up the reins and be willing to steer off of the
railing when the Lord as our guide calls us to travel a different path. Yes, there will be unexpected moments when we
feel like we’ve lost control, but He will always be there still in ultimate
control, and yes, we will fall sometimes even, but even in those times, He will
always be there to catch us in His loving arms and set us aright again.
My
experience of finding myself in a situation out of control shook me up for a
few minutes, but like every incident that happens, I learned something from
it. I learned what to expect next time
and what signs to look for to avoid a recurrence of the episode. Just as I learned from my experience, so
should we evaluate our falls and accidents every time as well and learn from
our mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with
making mistakes- it’s a natural part of life- so long as you learn from them
and learn how to avoid them next time.
And remember, just because we’ve lost our control in a situation, does
not mean that God has lost His position of role. He never has, He never can, and He never
will. His rule is more powerful than we
could ever imagine.
“God is our
refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth
give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters
roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46:1-3
~We’ve all
heard of the phrase “pulling on her/ his heartstrings,” but heart-chords? I was struggling to decide what to name my
blog. I wanted it to be a name that was
both creative and meaningful. As I
pondered, my gaze fell upon my acoustic guitar where it stands in my bedroom,
and the Lord reminded me that our hearts- our lives- are instruments. They are constantly in song, but what melody
our heart plays is each of our own decisions.
They can play a melody for praise or for entertainment. A musician selects his songs according to his
audience. So do we. Whether our audience is the world or the
Lord, our song will be different. This
blog is designed to first, increase my awareness in finding God and His
guidance in my every day and second, to share the music lessons He teaches me
in tuning my heart to learn the chords of praise He longs to play on my
heart-instrument. Music is a powerful
tool. Use it for His glory. “He
put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in
the Lord.” Psalm 40:3
Great analogy. I'm glad you stayed on that horse! :)
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