Learning a lot about releasing control these days, not only in parenting but also in my personal life. My perfectionist tendencies are getting a good knock up-side the head.
Randomly, or more providentially, I started a book this week that turns out couldn’t have come at a better time in my life. A time of some burnout, trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing with my days as a wife, mom, friend & creative person all wrapped up into one.
— Here are a few words I read in just the first chapter of this book that struck a chord and allowed me to release a little breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding in.
“What we do matters. We can and do change things. BUT when we suppose that we can control all our circumstances, we soon find that we can’t.
We don’t say the words, but we live as though the weight of the world were on our shoulders. And it exhausts us. Behind the patient grin on our faces we hide a lingering rage about the endless demands that must be met, unrealized dreams, and rational disappointments.
The odd thing is that, even when we run into our inevitable limits, we often hang on to the delusion that if we just work harder, if we simply squeeze tighter, if we become more efficient, we can eventually regain control.
We imagine that we can keep our children safe, our incomes secure, and our bodies whole …
Denying our finitude cripples us in ways we don’t realize. It also distorts our view of God and what Christian spirituality looks like.
“We must rediscover that being dependent creatures is a constructive gift, not a deficiency.”
Kelly M. Kapic – You’re Only Human
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