Letting Go to Let God
Letting God Is Letting Go of Control
God is in absolute control of everything.
"He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.'"
(Psalm 46:10)
Throughout ages, miracles have happened around the world—a testament to the indisputable fact that God is always in control of anything and everything, despite humans’ resistance to letting go of their futile endeavors to control their own destinies.
There was the story of Norbert Gennep, born in AD 1080, who came from a wealthy and influential family in Germany, with ties to the imperial court. At that time in history, it was not uncommon for those seeking political advancement to also acquire ecclesiastical offices. So, Norbert had himself ordained a Sub-deacon and became a Canon, although he had no real piety or religious inclination; his ultimate motive was to indulge himself in worldly luxuries and pleasures
Then, one day in AD 1112, while riding on horseback, he was struck by a fierce lightning, thrown from his horse, and remained unconscious for a while. On waking up, Norbert was completely "transformed" and asked: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" He heard God's voice, saying: "Turnaway from evil and do good." Obediently, he gave up everything he ever owned, became a priest, preached the Gospel, and lived the simple life of a wandering preacher on barefoot. Norbert eventually became the Archbishop of Magdeburg in Germany and was subsequently made a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
You don't have to be struck by lightning and thrown off the horseback before you'd let go of your attachments to the material world, as well as your futile attempt to control your destiny. God can work miracles in your life if you are obedient and if it is His will.
The origin of control
Control is basic human instinct. Humans are inherently controlling. Out of fear and insecurity, our ancestors living as early as in the Stone Age strove to control their environment in order to survive, and thus developing their fight-or-flight instinct.
Since time immemorial, control has evolved, and most of us are controlling to a certain extent. We, as parents, control our children’s destinies by striving to steer them clear of the wrong pathways we might have previously trod ourselves. Our cultures tell us that we should be in control of everything around us at all times, including our futures and destinies. Controlling, to many of us, is synonymous with independence and power.
The irony of control
Stress in everyday life and living may make you want to control everyone and everything around you in order to de-stress yourself. Ironically enough, in the process of controlling stress, you may also have inadvertently created a vicious cycle of stress-generating-more-stress.
The anticipation of stress puts you on an alert system, producing stress hormones. Then You may have to make some choices—choosing this and avoiding that. Choosing in itself is stressful, especially when picking the wrong choices, leading to regret and disappointment. In addition, your expectation of the anticipated result may further intensify the stress, often making you do more than what is necessary to guarantee the expected result. Over-doing is stressful.
The irony is that controlling stress may only lead to getting more stress.
The ways of control
Control may come in many different forms in life, and we are all susceptible to some forms of control.
Given that control is basic human instinct, we all spontaneously want to control how people perceive us.
If you ask a child “How old are you?”, the child may answer: “Five years and four months”, while also extending his or her four fingers to highlight the “four months.” The child wants to control your perception of him or her—that he or she is “four months” older than other five-year-old kids.
If you ask a teenager the same question, that teenager may answer: “I am fifteen”—implying that “I’m nearly old enough to drive soon.”
If you ask someone in the late twenties or early thirties the same question, that individual may answer quite differently: “I won’t tell you; just guess!”—that individual may want to control your perception of his or her real age in relation to his or her appearance.
If you ask an elderly person the same question, that person may be more willing to let you know his or her real age by saying: “I’ve just turned eighty.” That individual is, in fact, also controlling your perception: “See, I’m eighty, but I look much younger—probably like a sixty-year-old, don’t I?”
In addition to controlling how people perceive us, we may also want to control how people act and react toward us by using emotions, such as anger, fear, and guilt, among other negative emotions. Furthermore, we may also want to control the circumstances we are living in, thereby controlling what is happening to and around us.
Challenges beyond control
Life journey is forever paved with many challenges, and many of which are beyond control because they are sudden and unpredictable.
Physical loss, including loss of vision and mobility, both of which may affect the quality of life with respect to independent living, may make living beyond control.
Material loss may include loss of property from natural disaster, such as flooding, tornado, and wild fire, loss of place and space, such as moving from a house to an apartment or to a nursing home. Downsizing also means the loss or forced disposal of treasured possessions that many are reluctant to let go of.
Memory loss may result in a severe loss of organizational ability and the ability to plan and function, resulting in loss of independence, which is a major setback for the elderly.
Loss of loved ones due to accidents or natural causes are devastating. Spousal loss is often the most devastating in that the oneness in marriage is forever broken, resulting in isolation and loneliness.
Losses that come in many different forms often
become challenges that are beyond human control.
Living is all about controlling. But we are only humans, and we cannot control nature, which is controlled by God. Being finite, with only limited intelligence, we are limited in our capabilities to control what is beyond human control. God, who is infinite, is in control of anything and everything. The constant conflict to control is displeasing to God—an expression of humans’ lack of trust and disobedience.
The Miracle of Letting God
Letting go is letting God control, which is your deliberate
detachment of all your attachments to the material world. The miracle of
letting God is that you may attain the spiritual
Now, you may then begin to see the futility of living for this material world with all your
attachments—the impermanence of all things.
The Impermanence
Wte all understand the meaning of “nothing lasts” or the implications of “impermanence.” Every day we watch news that people are massacred, and hat homes are destroyed in wildfires or tornadoes. But those horrific images tell us that those human tragedies would happen only to others, but would never happen to ourselves, because the human mind naturally projects its “expectations” into the future as their perceived “realities.”
Impermanence is an indisputable fact of human existence, clearly evidenced in the process of falling sick, growing old, and dying in all humans, as well as in the process if decaying of all things perishable and the passing of anything liable to pass. There is no exception in the impermanence of anything and everything in this material world.
God has created a world of
constant changes: everything in it is changing with every moment, remaining
only with that very moment, and nothing remains permanent. It is through these
constant changes that you may transform yourself into a better individual.
Understanding the impermanence of
anything and everything is self-awakening.
The Self-Awakening
Death empties anything and everything—that is, the ego and all its attachments to the material world. Emptiness is nothingness in which everything becomes nothing, but this nothingness may also be self-awakening.
“Remember your Creator
before you
return to the dust you came from.”
(Ecclesiastics 12: 7)
Remember your Creator, or where you came from, and everything is nothing in the end. So, why hold on to, and why not let go of, anything and everything that eventually will become nothing? Just let go to let God, who is in absolute control. The reality is that anything and everything must eventually return to Him as nothingness.
Being and becoming
Self-awakening can make you re-assess your strengths and weaknesses, which may help bringing more being into your own life experiences and end up becoming your true self.
Stephen Lau
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