By Marilyn Pritchard
Just a few weeks ago, I thought I had my life pretty well under control. My kids were launched, I had enough freelance work to keep me busy, and my husband was starting a new business while working full time at his “day job.” Little did I know then that my work would virtually dry up, my husband would have to furlough some of his employees while taking a pay cut himself, and my children’s careers would be put on hold while we all waited at home to help prevent the virus from spreading too fast and overwhelming the health care system.
The one thing this pandemic has taught me is that I’m not really in control at all. None of us are. If this tiny, unseen virus can kill thousands of people, devastate the economy and throw a country’s entire health care system into disarray, then there are forces at work in this world that we have no power over. Thankfully, our God is more powerful than a virus, or any other force for that matter, seen or unseen (Eph. 1:19-21).
My control over my life is merely an illusion. As James wrote in his letter to the early church, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).
Letting go of my illusion of control is difficult. But being stuck at home, without my usual activities to distract me from the things God wants to teach me, I’m learning to take one day at a time and hold loosely the things I used to think were so important — my career, my financial security, even my health. Slowly, daily, I’m surrendering to His will. I’m learning to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” knowing that my heavenly Father knows my needs and will provide for me (Matt. 6:25-34).