Unlearning the Need to Be in Control

The Great Adventure of Finding Your Place, Chapter 6, Part 2

This is part two of chapter six of my book in progress, The Art of Unlearning. This post won’t make nearly as much sense if you haven’t read part one of this chapter, which you can find HERE.

Adventure Injections

Ward admits that real life, at times, can feel like a prison. We have jobs, responsibilities and appointments. There are things most of us must do even if we don’t want to do them. But adventure can still penetrate and enrich our lives when we live with abundant expectations: “We have to get up and come down to breakfast every day, but the state of mind and attitude towards life with which we do so is capable of infinite variation.”[i]

Maybe you have a relatively mindless job with a monotonous routine. Or maybe you feel shackled to bed by ill health. What if you asked God to place people on your heart who need prayer right that moment? There may be sudden stirrings in your mind until suddenly, you come alive and plead with God to give strength, wisdom, discernment, and protection as he leads. There’s a certain intimacy that erupts when you secretly partner with God to complete his work in someone else’s life.

First century Romans often called early Christians “the crickets of the night” because of their frequent singing late at night.  And when that singing turned to intercession (c.f. Acts 16:25), those crickets became mighty warriors.  Ward pictures “some poor sleepless mortal lying on a bed of sickness, supposed by those around to be helpless and powerless, and yet being the means whereby a life is changed and a miracle worked.”[ii]