I'm Losing Control of the World"

             Perhaps the quintessential Thanksgiving cartoon is Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. It's the episode when Peppermint Patty invites herself and Marcie and Franklin over to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving dinner. You probably watched the episode. Charlie Brown - because he's "so wishy-washy" in the words of sister Sally - can't tell Peppermint Patty "No." They're supposed to be at their grandmother's for Thanksgiving; they won't even be home.

 

            At one point in his conversations with Peppermint Patty, Charlie Brown hangs up the phone and laments, "I feel like I'm losing control of the whole world." Do you ever feel like that? Have you ever felt like you are not in control of anything? Sometimes we feel like we're not even in control of ourselves.

 

            The great thing is - the liberating thing is - we are not in control. I cannot control anybody except myself. The deception many people fall into is that they believe they can't even control themselves. That is decidedly false. On the other hand, we do not control the world nor anything in it - except ourselves.

 

            The great thing is that God is in control.  He always does what is right. He always does what is best. He always does what is the good for us, His children. That is liberating and ought to make life much more worry-free.

 

            In the following verse, meditate on what God says about Himself and what He tells Abraham to do: "When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless" (Genesis 17:1).

 

--Paul Holland