At last: a cure for control freaks

Do you feel you've got to know things will work out, and that you have to calculate how things are going to work out, so you can implement a strategy to make things work out, so you feel in control?

In a recent talk I went to, I learned that a survey of college students found "control" is a major issue of concern.

Let's think about that. It's important. It is certainly legitimate to want to feel that everything is, and will remain, under control. But if you wanted to buy, say, the latest Dave Matthews Band album, where would you go? To a candy shop? No. You would go down to the CD store. Likewise with the desire to know things are under control. It's fine to want that, but you've got to go to the right place for it.

Human beings - uninformed by a higher intelligence (some would say that of the divine Mind, or God) - have no ingenuity of their own. No true wisdom. And, really, zero ability to foresee what is truly in everyone's best interests.

That's helpful to remember if you've ever experienced a "control freak crash" - you know, a situation where your need to manage things fails to blend with another person's. The so-called personal, material mind, which is apart from God, is the original control freak. It claims, and has always claimed, to be in charge of you, and me, and all humankind. It has a problem, though. God, divine Mind, already is the Governor of all, the spiritual lawmaker and law enforcer.

It's not mysterious. God's infinite goodness makes His government of our lives a great thing. The Bible explains this in many of the psalms. Just one example: "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice" (Ps. 97:1). It also relates the life of Jesus, who patently proved that there is a good order to be found in being; that the divine Mind truly governs and heals conditions that seem totally out of control.

If it is true that the divine Mind is ultimately in control, then there's no point in believing that a personal mind can take over God's authority.

If you ask how things are going to work out, there's an answer in the thought that "God, the divine Mind, is totally in control of all creation." Because then you're home free. You can listen for, and act on, divine direction. The Bible helps in understanding the creator's universal government of all. God will reveal to you the immediate and long-range ideas you need to know to feel convinced that everything's under divine control.

When I was in college, I found many situations where I felt events were out of order: bungled relationships, turbulent political issues, health problems. I came to love and trust ideas in a book written to explore and prove the truth of the Bible. Referring to God, this book told me that "Mind's control over the universe, including man, is no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science" ("Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, pg. 171).

To the degree I have grown to understand the spiritual truth of God's total, benign control, I have found it making my life more and more orderly. Through prayer, I have brought this truth to bear on my life. My relationships have stabilized, the political issues that concern me have shown progress, and I've been healed of specific health problems.

It is as true for you as for me that God can be found totally in control. Trust that, and see if you don't thrive!

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7