Saint Ignatius of Loyola said that sin is an unwillingness to trust that what God wants is our deepest happiness. Until we are convinced of this, we will seek to control our own lives.

We are all called by God to share in His life and in His Kingdom. Each one of us is called to a special place in the Kingdom. If we find that place we will be happy. If we do not find it, we can never be completely happy.

I first heard about this heartbreaking story in the book Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches

Control is an illusion. The more we seek to mitigate risk by seizing power, the more we drive people away and distance ourselves from God. Rather than securing our future, we jeopardize it.

When learning to let go, we can’t trust our controlling instincts or fear of pain. We must rely on another to teach us surrender. And this is why surrendering to God’s sovereign care is essential to our faith.

When we take our eyes off eternity, we are swept into a frenzied effort to keep up with others.

Unwilling to wait for the resources God will provide, we resort to credit, stretching beyond our means in an attempt to create immediate outcomes. Our temptation to control often results in slavery to the unintended consequences of our fear-driven decisions.

You follow your desires wherever they take you, and you approve of yourself so long as you are not obviously hurting anyone else. You figure that if the people around you seem to like you, you must be good enough. In the process you end up slowly turning yourself into something a little less impressive than you had originally hoped. A humiliating

Your call is to cast the gospel into the darkness of this world. Instead of catching fish, you will be caught up in a story of love and redemption and grace. Feed my sheep with the good news of grace. Embrace your call as a shepherd.”