Regaining control over our life's direction

Ellen says: We would like to think that we are in control of our own lives and that we have the power to make purposeful decisions.

Sadly, this is not always the case. We are not always in control. Sometimes our circumtances seems to rule our lives much more than our own decisions. Sometimes the consequences of previous unfortunate decisions plague us in the present. And frequently the demand of the present and pressures of the moment dominate our lives. We can feel overpowered. We fell overwhelmed and frequently begin to slide into resentment of fantasising.

One move that we can begin to make as an alternative to this negative options is to create a place of stillness where we face the enemies who are ranged against us. When we are able to create a lonely place in the middle of our actions and concerns, our successes and failures slowly can lose some of their power over us. So the pressure of the moments, the demands of others, the expectations of loved ones, the unresolved issues of the past and the power of our own compulsions lose some of their holds over our lives.

In the place of stillness, quiet reflections and ruthless honesty, we can begin to reclaim the ground which has been lost. We can take a stand and retake the reins of our lives.

We do this not by willing that things be different. Nor by fretful prayer. Nor by plotting plans to escape. We regain lost territory by rediscovering that we are more that the work of our own hands. That we are loved for who we are by the God of all compassion, not merely for what we do. And by creating space for ourselves, we can gain a new perspective on the pressures and the demands that we experience and so can begin to plot anew course for our lives.