You Are Not in Control

​One of the messages given by Dr Wayne Dyer that often resonates when I am faced with a crisis is “when your squeeze an orange what do you expect to get?” Well if I am getting lemon juice there are some changes that need to be made.
 
This has been quite a challenging week! Tuesday evening the power went out to the detached storage room that houses our freezer. The kitchen lights are on the same circuit which thankfully alerted us to the problem. To complicate matters I was leaving to go out of town for an overnight stay to attend the retirement party for my former boss. Fortunately our electrician was available early Wednesday morning. No problem, issue resolved.
 
Returning from Mobile on Thursday morning I drove in silence. I felt an amazing peace come over me that is almost indescribable. As I looked at the opposite side of the interstate I saw that the traffic backed up for miles. On my side heading west there was no traffic at all. I made it home in record breaking time.
 
Early Thursday evening a major blockage issue developed with the major drain line through which all drains flow from our house. Serious anxiety and fear surfaced from feeling totally out of control. We had seen neighbors go through a similar problem costing thousands of dollars to repair. Then to top this off the lights went off again in the kitchen indicating there was still an electrical problem.
 
My mind was reeling. How much would it cost to solve all the issues? Oh no, it’s Memorial Day Weekend! Where could we go for the night? We certainly couldn’t stay at our house. Jeanne was at a meeting so when she came home we just sat still a few minutes and tried to logically resolve first things first. Many blessings came from this major crisis that I thought was bigger than I could handle.
 
Friends present at the meeting with Jeanne offered us their spare bedroom and bath. They even gave us the key to their house to be available to us until our plumbing issue was resolved. On returning home the next morning our neighbors offered to keep their front door open so we could use their bathroom during the day. Another blessing when we got home at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning was that the electrician was waiting for us. He temporarily resolved the issue and will be back Tuesday to finish the job.
 
Blair Plumbing sent an amazing team out to locate the blockage and resolve the issue. Before 9:00 a.m. on Friday of Memorial Day weekend they sent plumbers to work nonstop, well past working hours, to correct the problem. The cost to fix the issue was less than what I had fearfully anticipated.
 
Life seems to happen in spite of my many failed attempts to control it! Planning is still important. Having a prosperity budget, making a dream board, connecting with friends that support you and reading inspirational material do provide support to our efforts. Once I was able to let go of control many of these tools assisted me in getting through the crisis.
 
A tool I use from my tool box every day is the daily reading of several newsletters from inspirational writers. Coincidentally or providentially this was the message from Fr. Richard Rohr’s newsletter this week.
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You Are Not in Control
Thursday, May 26, 2016
“To be in control of one’s destiny, health, career, or finances seems to be an unquestionable cultural value. On a practical level it may be partially true, but not on the bigger level. Our bodies, our souls, and especially our failures, teach us this as we get older. We are clearly not in control. This is not a negative discovery, but a thrilling discovery of divine providence; being led, used, and guided; having an inner purpose and a sense of personal vocation; and owning one’s destiny as a gift from God. Learning that you are not in control situates you correctly in the universe. You know you are being guided, and your reliance on that guidance is precisely what allows your journey to happen. What freedom and peace this can bring!”