Have Thine Own Way, Lord

That was the title of a classic hymn that speaks to the importance of an attitude of surrender to the Lord – allowing His Way to be the only WAY! We’ve been having to surrender many things in the last couple of months during this quarantine period. Surrendering hopes, dreams, time, gathering together in churches, schools, meeting places, gyms, restaurants, weddings, parties, and on and on.

Many of us submitted to the "surrender" while many of us held on tight like the reins of a runaway horse. We weren’t about to let go of control until there were no more options. That old hymn was a prayer of surrender. I know I need to make it my theme song and sing it with undaunted trust in my Potter.

“Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. You are the Potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me. After Your will. While I am waiting – yielded and still.”

That hymn was written by Adelaide Pollard when she was a discouraged missionary. It became a prayer of surrender and yielding to God’s way instead of her way. Her words depict the clay – to be molded into whatever the Potter chooses to be the exact representation of His Master Potter’s hands -- yielding to His fine design, intricate details with expertise and brilliance – as the Master Craftsman.

Although it may be challenging and uncomfortable when we submit to the Potter's touch, we experience the joy of His perfect will. We’ve had to do a lot of laying down our wills during this pandemic, haven’t we? We may have willed to go to work or go out to eat in a fine restaurant or get together with friends and loved ones, but our will had to yield to the laws of our land.

Just maybe we’ve been forced to comply to yielding our wills, so that yielding to God could become easier. In fact, if we had learned to yield to God’s will before all this “forced yielding”, then maybe the forced yielding would not have been so difficult. To say “Yes, Lord” when He asks us to relax and "be" instead of always "doing" or when He asks us to surrender our time to give time to encourage someone or to gather our kiddos in our arms and realize how precious are the gifts He has given us, is surrendering our wills to Him. And, in that loving our own, we understand our Heavenly Father’s love for us – wanting the best for us – to make us vessels of honor that display His likeness in love, character and honor.

We have the opportunity and privilege to partner with God during His sculpturing process. Maybe in our surrender to Him, we can help decide the end result -- that vessel of honor, humility, faithfulness, compassion and one who bears a prayerful, peaceful spirit in the midst of chaos. Have Thine Own Way, Lord! I surrender all!

Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

It Doesn't Have to Be My Way!

Day 195 of Photo Inspirations – It Doesn't Have to Be My Way!
Remember Frank Sinatra singing “I did it my way”? The song was about a man fondly looking back on a life lived on his own terms.  But, is that the way WE want to live?

I attended a meeting on Thursday where the speaker handed out empty toilet paper rolls to each of us. She asked: “Have you ever had a dispute with your husband about the RIGHT way to hang a toilet paper roll?  And, if you weren’t in agreement, did you correct it each time that he’d put it in different from the way you thought it should be?  Did it frustrate you because it just wasn’t right or it just wasn't YOUR WAY?  She said God had been speaking to her about having to have it HER WAY, so, on purpose, she has been leaving it the way her husband put it on.  She realized “It doesn’t have to be MY WAY all the time. She instructed us to write on our rolls…. “It doesn’t have to be MY WAY!”

What a powerful object lesson! Point well taken.  It's such an erroneous belief that OUR WAY is the best way of doing things and then insisting others agree with us.  There are those who seem to have taken a life course called, “How To Be Absolutely Sure of Everything”!  And, honestly, in the light of eternity and what matters most, does it really matter?  Wanting and insisting on getting our way is a set up for unhappiness, and a lot of disagreements with others.  We rationalize that THEY just need to change.

It’s part of being human to want to have our way. We all have a touch of the need to be right. We all have areas where we believe that we know better than others. As we learn to let go of the need to have it OUR WAY, the more energy we’ll have to spend on things that REALLY ARE important.

It’s time to ask ourselves, “Do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?  Do I want to get my way, or do I want to feel closeness with others?”  Who wants to be a know-it-all, when there’s only one KNOW-IT-ALL?   He is Father God.  Instead of singing Frank’s “I DID IT MY WAY”, why not be singing…. “I did it God’s way!” And when we do it God's way.....in humility and love.....it WILL BE His way....and the BEST WAY!

"Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in HIS WAYS." Psalm 128:1
 "...be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the HUMBLE.”  1 Peter 5:5