Crosswalk the Devotional - Nov. 21, 2008
November 21, 2008
Who's the Boss?
by Laura MacCorkle, Crosswalk.com Senior Entertainment Editor
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24, NIV
Recently, I became "the boss" of someone else. Actually, just her hair.
I'm not kidding. You see, my friend Rachel recently told me that she needed some help deciding what to do with her long locks, and she wanted to give me free reign in any upcoming cut-and-style decisions.
Now, before you stop reading any further because it sounds like I'm "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," just know that Rachel and I kid around about my new status as "the boss" of her hair. It's not that serious, and I am no Svengali. We both know she's going to do what she ultimately wants to do anyway.
I won't force her to get a mullet, a Mohawk or anything like that. But she really does want me to help her to decide how she should cut her hair, how to style it and what hair-care products to use. And I am happy to help offer whatever insight that I can.
As I've been contemplating my new role in the future of Rachel's coiffure, I've been researching hairstyles that I think will look nice and work well with the texture. Maybe I have a better perspective and can see what will look best on my friend. On one hand I care, but I am also not emotionally attached to Rachel's hair (like she is) and can perhaps be more objective in what I recommend that she does.
This new "bossification" got me thinking about where I turn for guidance when making decisions (beyond my hair) for my own life. Who is the boss of not just my hair, but all of me? Who is in control?
Well, truth be told, it's usually me. But an application in my Bible study workbook this week really made me think about that and how I approach day-to-day living:
If God can handle the whole universe with such precision, why do we doubt what he can do in our lives?
Good question. In theory, I can make it sound like I don't doubt him or what he can do in my life. I can try to fool myself into thinking that I really do trust in God's authority in my life and have released my tight grip. But am I truly living how I say I believe? Not when I worry and fret and manipulate and orchestrate and run ahead of God... only to have to wait for my messes to be cleaned up.
So why don't I willingly - and thankfully - hand over my life decisions to God? And, just like Rachel did with me and her hair, when will I get to the place where I immediately recognize my deficiencies and lack of expertise and really let go and let God be the boss of me?
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me ... you are familiar with all my ways. ... For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:1, 3, 13, 16).
God knows us - and the best plans for us - far better than we do! Until we acknowledge who he is and his position of ultimate authority, then we will not let him reign in our lives.
Intersecting Faith & Life: Try an experiment this weekend. For each decision you must make (no matter how miniscule), stop and pray for direction. That includes everything from what to eat for lunch to how you should spend your free time to what you should do with the extra $20 you found in your pocket. You might find this incredibly annoying. Or you might find that you begin a new pattern of regularly saying: "God, YOU are the boss of me and not me. What do you want me to do?"
Further Reading
Isaiah 40:27-31, NIV
Wanting God More Than Anything: More Than Control
