40 days of Lent: A Spirtual Journey -- Day Six

For this, the Sixth Day of Lent: "Give up the television remote. Let someone else control it. You know who you are and if this suggestion is for you."  

---UCC Lenten Devotional Calendar 2012

I generally watch TV alone.  Of course I do; after all, I live alone.  The dogs don't care, and the cat is usually in the other room or outside with her friends.  So really, I have to control the remote.  Funny thing, though, the remotes on both of my TV have not been operating correctly for some time.  I called the satellite service, but they were really not helpful.  I wrote to them earlier today, so maybe something will change.  But that is not what I am supposed to be thinking about or musing on.  

Control.  Control is the issue at hand here.  Give up control.  Now there is a concept.  

The first thing I thought about when I read the charge for today, since the TV remote thing doesn't apply in my case, was driving.  I can be a control freak when driving.  Now I know I will pay for this, especially when I "carpool" or travel with any of you (and you know who you are) in the near future.  I tend to want to drive.  I do have trouble relinquishing that control.  There are a couple of people with whom I am comfortable being the passenger (and you know who you are).  But usually I like to be behind the wheel.

Control.  That is definitely the issue.  That rarely seen part of my persona comes out: the alpha male side.  Imagine, me, alpha male.  Well, it had to be there somewhere.  Anyway...

I think the real issue for me is letting go and trusting.  Whether it be trusting the process of building consensus, believing that everything will come out okay or having faith in my own ability to weather the storms of life, control is something that must be reckoned with.  And like it or not, usually, there is no control for much of anything in life.  Life happens.  It rolls as it will.  The only thing we have control over is, you guessed it, how we handle it, what we think about it, and what we do with the experience.

So I think, no I know I have gotten better.  I can let the river flow.  It knows what it needs to do to get to where it is headed.  It can sometimes rage in the form of whitewater rapids or rush swiftly over the banks on its was to the sea.  In either case, even if I build the strongest dam, the river will get to where it needs to go.  I on the other hand, can go with the flow or drown in my resistance.

So today I remember to give up control when my control would only only force an unnatural outcome.  I will control my own feelings and reactions be remaining aware of them as they occur.  I will use them as tools to understand myself and the world around me.

And as for the TV, well, I have to remember only I can control the TV with or without the remote.  And I have to admit that as I realize that I don't have to share the remote, I sometimes wish I did.  And, yes, I know, only I can control that, too!