Before fully RELEASING CONTROL of my life to God, I worked relentlessly to manage every part of life. I wanted to keep everything in motion like a circus performer’s frenetic effort to spin multiple plates on sticks simultaneously. In my case, the plates were my CEO job. My money. And my mansion. I worked very hard to keep those plates spinning at the same time without any of them dropping to their fractured death.
The consequences were horrific–from stress…to strained relationships…to broken dreams of living a balanced life in Christ. The internal turmoil and throbbing pain were excruciating. Recalling that feeling brings tears to my eyes even now as I write these words at the middle point of 2024.
Deeply embedded in the spinning-plates metaphor is a connection to our FAITH WALK and the spiritual imperative to fully RELEASE CONTROL of everything to God.
When we try to manage and control everything in life, each “plate” brings its own challenges. Plates like faith, family, work, relationships, and finances. There are many more, of course–hobbies and sports and possessions to name a few–but you get the picture.
Each individual plate carries its own pressure to keep it spinning, but the collective challenge is what really makes trying to control our life tough.
The dangers of trying to control life on our own are very real and specific—frustration, anger, anxiety, jealousy, addictions—and many more. Add them all together like those plates at the circus and the danger level explodes. Gravity will eventually bump the plates off their sticks.
Back then I didn’t have any spiritual discernment. I didn’t have any Godly wisdom. And I did NOT have a relationship with Jesus. RELEASE CONTROL to God? C’mon, man. No way.
I had bought into the LIE that the stress associated with spinning plates was simply “part of life.” NO WAY. God does not want us to control our stress or anything else. He wants us to fully RELEASE control of our life to him and commit to grow closer to, and emulate, Jesus Christ.
That’s why I ask God to help me resist the temptation to start spinning plates and trying to control my life by myself. To give me the strength to fully RELEASE CONTROL of my life to him.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you trying to spin the plates of your life without God?
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Mark 8:36
