Control

This morning, on my drive in to work, I heard something that got my wheels turning.

Control. And not the song by Miss Jackson if You're Nasty.



A man was talking about his consuming need to be in control - and others' consuming need to be in control. And while it can extend as far as not trusting God with our futures, most the time it's the small things like traffic or the actions of others in places like the grocery store parking lot or in line at the mall.

I immediately thought of my brief run-in with this hornery old lady at Urgent Care on Monday. We had all been waiting an extremely long time. And by long time, I mean I celebrated 3 birthdays before they even checked me in. However, Granny Good Times arrived an hour after me, so she had only celebrated 2 birthdays by the time they checked her in. She paced the waiting room. Huffing. Puffing. Faux stretching (you know the way people do when they pace the sidewalk around an interstate rest stop?). Muttering "This is ridiculus!" under her breath. And while I'm watching her I'm getting more and more tense. I want to say something to her. I want to talk to her about patience. I want to explain how sometimes Urgent Cares need to triage their patients - taking the more serious cases first. But I didn't. I stewed.

(BTW - the below image is not a metaphor for how I stewed. It's an almost completely accurate rendition of the real Granny Good Times.)



Then I got called back and Granny Good Times exploded! She got very nasty and very rude to the sweet check-in girl. And as I walked back, I touched her arm and said, " Excuse me, ma'am? We've all been waiting a long time. I was here before you. We all have to be patient."

I thought that would satiate my hunger to control the situation. Not so much. I've felt really weird about it. I can't quite pinpoint the feeling, but "weird" pretty much sums it up.

So back to the radio ths morning, the man said when it comes to controlling a situation that involves other people, "I can't trust that person to act the way I want them to. But I can trust the spirit of God that lives in them." Who am I to try to fix things? The Holy Spirit lives in me AND in Granny Good Times. It struck a chord this morning. I may even be able to stew less and bite my tongue more! Maybe.