Cling

Cling

I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.

IT WAS A FREAK ACCIDENT that put my friend’s teenage daughter in the emergency room, headed immediately into surgery for a severely broken arm. But it was complicated into something impossibly more difficult by circumstances outside of their control, resulting in a mother watching as her daughter was rapidly admitted and whisked away without her, without her dad, confused, in pain and left to navigate the healthcare system, making critically important decisions on her own.

And while there is a happy ending to the story, in the midst of the agonizing hours-that-felt-like-years while my friend waited outside the hospital, she did the only thing she could: cling.

She clung to Jesus, knowing that he loves her precious daughter, and that while she could not be there, God was there, his presence saturating the places she could not. She clung to Scripture, speaking truth in the form of verses whisper-recited every time her mind started to veer toward anxiety and fear. She clung to those who love her family, allowing their inner circle to rally around them, confiding what they were walking through, so that their community could encircle their daughter with prayer.

Clinging when the world tilts crazily to one side, threatening to overrun everything we know with turmoil and chaos is one thing, but what about when life is thrumming along, when routine is the norm, when we operate under the illusion of control? Do we cling then?

I don’t cling often enough, I’ll admit. I get lulled into a false sense of security, assuming I can manage well enough on my own, loving God but not clinging until the proverbial waters get choppy or my proverbial skies turn menacing, signaling a twister on the horizon. Then, I cling.

What if we practiced clinging as the default rather than as a spiritual storm shelter, used only in cases of dire emergency? What if we released our illusion of control, handing over the reins in the day-to-day rather than only in the midst of chaos?

Lord, take the reins of our day. We release our to-do lists, our obligations, our schedule and agendas, our control to you so that we might cling to the one who created and named the stars. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Release every piece of today to Jesus, asking him to guide your every step and decision.