Crowds

In my opinion, there are good crowds and bad crowds. Bad crowds include: Christmas shoppers, the rowdy crowd making their way home past my flat and singing loudly at 3am and, most annoying of all, the slow-walking, pavement-blocking crowd.

But good crowds can be supportive and collaborative and encouraging. They can work together to achieve far more than individuals can; they can support and encourage each other; they can be a powerful force for good.

One of the most amazing things about watching the Olympics this week has been the reaction and support of the crowds, especially the crowd supporting the home team. The sheer volume of the cheering and shouting every time someone from team GB has been competing has been immense.

So many athletes have commented on the support of the crowds too and the effect that is has had on them. When the athletes have been nervous or overwhelmed, the crowd has encouraged them; when they haven't done as well as they had hoped, it has helped them to pick themselves up; when they have grown tired and weary, it has motivated them to keep going.

In the same way, the Bible tells us that we have a huge crowd of witnesses, spurring us on and encouraging us to persevere in our walk with God. A crowd of witnesses who have gone before us and who are on our side.

Yesterday, I wrote about the Holy Spirit being on our side and being our coach. We also have a crowd supporting us - other Christians who have gone before us and who can give us advice and encouragement, or those who walk alongside us and cheer us on.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

[Hebrews 12:1 NLT]

Pete Greig writes in his poem "The Vision" -

"They (Christians) don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

We weren't meant to run this race alone. It's a team sport. Let's cheer each other on and listen out for the roaring support of others.

Control Freaks and Picket Fences

I was recently called a Control Freak by a friend.  It was completely justified.  I am a total Control Freak.

I like to know everything that's happening.  I like to be in charge.  I like planning and preparing for different outcomes.  I like to feel organised.

And I'm not alone.  As Mary Alice says in Desperate Housewives,

"Control.  It's extraordinary the tactics people employ to obtain it: some rely on deception, while others engage in outright trickery.  Then there are those who resort to extortion.  Why do we fight so hard for control?  Because we know to lose it is to put our fate in the hands of others.  And what could be more dangerous?"

Control makes us feel safe.  It makes us feel powerful.  It is a form of protection.

But I have realised recently that so many of the things that I spend my time and energy trying to 'control' are, ironically, out of my control.

I spend my time fussing and worrying about other people's opinions of me, about their expectations of me and whether or not I am 'meeting' them.  I spend my time trying to plan for different events and 'covering' all eventualities.

And in all of this, I forget the only thing over which I do have real control: myself.

I can only really control my own thoughts and opinions and beliefs and desires and hopes and dreams and actions and words. 

And that is hard enough.

Fences demonstrate the boundaries between gardens and it would be strange and unnecessary if I took it upon myself to tend to someone else's lawn without their knowledge or consent.  It is not my responsibility. 

In the same way, I need to learn where I end and other people begin. I need to learn what is within my 'control' and what I can realistically change and influence. And then I need to learn how to 'control' what is mine.

If we don't have healthy 'fences' or boundaries between us and others, we will exhaust ourselves trying to take care of other people who should be taking care of themselves.  And we will open ourselves up to attack in all forms if we don't have secure boundaries around ourselves.

"A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls."

[Proverbs 25:28 NLT]

Rather than exhausting my resources by trying to control others, I need to understand what it truly means to control myself, to develop self-control.  For it is in developing an awareness of who we are (and who we aren't), in Christ, and growing in self-control with the help of the Holy Spirit [Galatians 5:22], that we find real safety and security.  That is where we find true power.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

[2 Timothy 1:7 NIV, emphasis mine]