Controlling the Chaos
I have a small triangle of grass outside my house that I mow each week. The edges are neatly trimmed. It has no weeds. The same can’t be said for the rest of the Church grounds (they’re really not that bad), but I do have this one small patch where I maintain order in the midst of chaos. When I’m finished, I just stand there for a while, admiring what I’ve done, and feeling good.
I’d like to suggest that this is life in microcosm. We live in the midst of chaos and disorder. But at the same time, we have a deep-seated need, rarely articulated, to control the world around us. I see that in the bible where it describes God’s purpose for people in the world. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).
Note the words, ‘subdue’ and ‘rule’. When the chaos of life meets the unmet human need to rule, there is tension and distress. How do we relieve the distress? By controlling or imposing order on something. That’s why I look at my little patch of lawn and feel good. I have controlled it and the tension has been temporarily relieved.
Of course, this strategy is open to abuse. Most abusive relationships are about the misuse of power to coerce and control another. It makes the abuser feel good, but at what cost. This is a corruption of God’s purpose.
However, in general, not being the victim of circumstances, but taking control of something, no matter how small, is therapeutic. And what about when we can’t control anything? Choice is a way of taking control. We can choose to let someone else, with greater ability, do it for us. Jesus is such a person. He is “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion…, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet… (Ephesians 1:21-22). We could do far worse than throw our lot in with him.
Neil Percival
I’d like to suggest that this is life in microcosm. We live in the midst of chaos and disorder. But at the same time, we have a deep-seated need, rarely articulated, to control the world around us. I see that in the bible where it describes God’s purpose for people in the world. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28).
Note the words, ‘subdue’ and ‘rule’. When the chaos of life meets the unmet human need to rule, there is tension and distress. How do we relieve the distress? By controlling or imposing order on something. That’s why I look at my little patch of lawn and feel good. I have controlled it and the tension has been temporarily relieved.
Of course, this strategy is open to abuse. Most abusive relationships are about the misuse of power to coerce and control another. It makes the abuser feel good, but at what cost. This is a corruption of God’s purpose.
However, in general, not being the victim of circumstances, but taking control of something, no matter how small, is therapeutic. And what about when we can’t control anything? Choice is a way of taking control. We can choose to let someone else, with greater ability, do it for us. Jesus is such a person. He is “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion…, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet… (Ephesians 1:21-22). We could do far worse than throw our lot in with him.
Neil Percival