A Lesson Learned: by Robin Thomas
I’m crying on the inside.
Sometimes I feel like Sisyphus, in Greek Mythology, who was sentenced to roll a boulder up a hill and then watch it roll back down again only to push it back up, for eternity. It’s a broken record on repeat, the same song, second, fifth and twenty-ninth verses.
Why am I so deeply caught up in this?
And the Lord says, “My child, because you won’t give up control.”
Well, that sounds like me. I am most comfortable when I am in control, as are most people, but I am a strong woman. I can handle it. Can’t I?
My daughter was born with my stubborn gene. When she was little we went to the zoo with another family. It was just the moms and the kids. We wanted to go on the Gondola that took you across the park. She refused to go.
“I am not going on that and you can’t make me.”
Oh my, when the mother sees herself in the daughter. We begged and pleaded with her to the same answer. The other family went on but if she didn’t go we were stuck there because I couldn’t leave her to take my son on the ride.
Why was she so stubborn?
She did not want to give up control. She liked to be able to control her surroundings. As do I.
I was moved by the story in Exodus 14 where the Israelites were fighting with Moses about leading them out of Egypt only to let them die in the wilderness as Pharaoh’s army pursued them. Moses tells them:
“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Ex 14:14 NLT)
Other translations say, “Be silent, be quiet, don’t lift a finger.”
My translation is “Just stop, and give it up to the Lord.”
Well as the story goes, God parted the Red Sea and saved the Israelites from Pharaoh.
“When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.” (Ex 14:31)
The words, “just stay calm” are so counter-intuitive to my “jump in and fix it” mentality, but clearly I am not getting anywhere trying to handle things my way, so maybe the “give up control” method will stop my cycle of pushing the boulder up the hill.
So what finally happened at the zoo? Did she get on the Gondola?
With a lot of persuasion and a little bit of threat, she finally did get on the ride and despite her white knuckle grip, she loved it!
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