In Our Control versus Out of Our Control
Wisdom is needed to discern the things that are in our control and the things that are not.
In life, there are things that are in our control and then there are things that are out of our control. For example, writing this blog post is within my control. I can choose to write or I can choose not to. I have control over what I want to write. I also have control over the quality of my writing—how much effort I put into it. Here's what I don't have control over: whether people will read it or not and whether they will like it or not. I can't force anybody to read my blog or like it. This is ultimately something that is out of my control.
There are plenty of things in life that are simply out of our control. We contract a rare disease. The economy crumbles. We lose our jobs. Customers stop patronizing our business. A pandemic happens. Our children make poor decisions. Somebody betrays us. Of course, there are things we can do to mitigate these issues. But ultimately, when these things happen, they are beyond our control.
Wisdom is needed to discern the things that are in our control and the things that are not. We should focus on the things that are within our control while letting go of the things that are not. Unfortunately, the opposite sometimes happens—we think and worry about the things that are not in our control. We expend a lot of energy in anxiety. And we don't spend enough energy on the things that we can actually do something about. We need to discern between the things we can do and the things we are not able to do.
If you want to start a business, there are things that are within your control. You're in control of choosing what you sell. You're in control of the business process. You're in control of responding to customer inquiries and complaints. You're in control of the quality of the product. You're in control of putting together a marketing campaign. Basically, you're usually in control of the input. What you're not in control of is the outcome—how many people will eventually buy your product and like it. You might sell a million products or you might sell none. You're ultimately not in control of the end result.
For the things that are in our control, let us act with courage and wisdom. And both courage and wisdom are supplied to us by God the Holy Spirit. For the things that are out of our control, let us let go of them with trust—trusting that although we don't have control over the end result, we believe that God is and we can rest assured in that fact.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
