Spiritual Growth and Development

As incredible as it might seem at this time, I was a lifeguard at the Mulberry City pool here in Fort Collins
for 5 years after I retired from Campus Ministry at CSU. I had been swimming there for some years
when the manager asked me if I would be interested in guarding during the day for one day a week. I
became certified and had a wonderful experience.
One technique that is used in life saving is to approach a person in distress from the rear and out of
reach of their flailing arms. The reason for that is to avoid their grabbing you and pulling you under in
their frantic fear. When you approach from the rear you can reach around them and secure them in
your grasp and tow them to safety on their back. This puts you close to their face and ears and you can
attempt to talk them into relaxing; telling them that you have them securely and they will be OK. The
idea is to get them to quit struggling and trust your ability and skill to bring them to safety.
This is a great illustration of how God reaches out to rescue us from ourselves and our distress in life.
God is always whispering to our spirits: “Relax, I have you in my arms. I am in control. Stop struggling
with your threatening issues and situations in life. Let go of your fears and anxieties. Quit worrying; it
only makes things worse and does nothing helpful. Trust me.”
Some weeks ago on Christ the King Sunday Pastor Michael delivered a powerful sermon
on this very issue. His salient point was that in all truth the control we might think
we have over our lives is only an illusion. It is not real. We are not in control and have
no way ever of being in control, although we struggle desperately at times trying to
grab control. It cannot happen. We only make things worse by trying to gain control
as it does for a swimmer in distress.
On the other hand, there is such joy and peace in releasing our lives, worries, warts
and all into God’s ‘management services’.
God’s promise, which by the way has a rather high success rate, is that if we allow the Holy One to take
over the management of our daily lives, this promise of relaxing peace will flow into us. “Let go and let
God.” I have never known anyone who has seriously practiced it to be disappointed.
Most of us have been taught to take responsibility for our lives. How often we have confused this responsibility
with control. Please know they are not the same. Relinquishing control does not remove
our responsibility for making the best choices we can. We are bound to do that, but the worry and anxiety
we release to God. After making our very best choices we then prayerfully allow God to manage the
playing out of the scenario while we rest in peace.