163: fixing people

"In the daily battles of life one can be tempted to give in to depression or fatigue as we see sin and compromising increasing. Yet there is hope. God is sovereign. Nothing is inevitable except what God has decreed. And there is power in prayer." --Peter Hammond, Putting Feet to Your Faith

I see people interact in my life and I cringe. I know what they should say, and I know what they definitely should not say. I know what they should do, and I want to force them not to do what they sound like they are about to do that I know would turn out wrong, wrong, wrong.

I interact with my students, and sometimes my voice raises and hardens as I try. to. make. them. do. what I am asking them to do, and try. to. make. them. stop. thinking about whatever they are thinking about and just learn!!!! (For example, "dogs" apparently are hilarious, especially when pronounced "dawg" and it's been a constant distraction in my classroom since November. Dawg!)

I find myself powerless to make people do what I want them to do. I cannot control other people. I can try, and sometimes I do try, but it doesn't generally work. (Actually, it generally flops pretty badly and sends me repenting to God.)

I cannot fix other people. I cannot force them. I cannot manipulate them to see my point of view, however valid and right.

I am powerless to fix other people. So I must resort to the biggest and only weapon I have--prayer.

 

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD,

Like the rivers of water;

He turns it wherever He wishes." (Proverbs 21:1)
 



I can hunker down in the cleft of the Lord and I can pray that the mountains will fall down and miracles will be done and the power of the Lord will bring change.

Because God can fix people, God does fix people, and right now He seems to be "fixing" my tendency to control and manipulate and teaching me how to practice self-control and prayer.