Unshackled Moments ~ June 29, 2018 ~ God Is Not My Co-pilot

I carried a bag of dog food today. This should not be a big deal. It's only 40 pounds. Last week I carried 100 pounds of chicken feed at least twice as far as the dog food and hurt less. When my back is acting up I can't do as much, and I need to adjust and act accordingly if I want to keep walking. The key is balance. When I  am carrying something I have to get the load as balanced as possible. It doesn't make it lighter. 40 pounds is 40 pounds, but off balance makes it take more effort. It doesn't make the load heavier, but it makes it feel heavier. It makes it harder on my body. Instinctively we know this. If you need to pick up and carry an eight foot board it's much easier to do and feels lighter when lifted in the middle instead of grabbing one end and muscling the other end off the ground.

Life is like that as well. We are all going to go through things. They don't necessarily change any more than the weight of that board or my dog food changed, no matter how we react or approach them. But balance can make them feel lighter. Now when you start talking about life and balance, there are many directions a mind might go. Balance work and rest, responsibilities to others and ourselves, doing the majority when others are in need and letting them do the majority when you are in need, etc. Balance can have different connotations when the subject turns to spirituality. But as I write this, I am thinking of balance in a very specific way, so let me explain so that we are on the same page.

There are those who live as though nothing matters but the flesh. By that I mean our thoughts, emotions and physical senses, needs and desires. This is what we are and what matters. Then there are those who say no, we are spirit, and all that matters is the spirit. We are spiritual beings on a journey that happens to be taking place in a body, and the flesh is no more us than the car we ride in on our journey to work. Both of these views are like picking up that board from one end and trying to walk with it. Life becomes much more difficult and strenuous, regardless of which end is grabbed.

God didn't create us as only spiritual beings. That wasn't His intention. The flesh was not an accidental side effect. We are not spirits. And we are not merely flesh. We do have souls. We can not ignore or pretend away either aspect because God created us as spirits in a body with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual needs. The weight of life is easier to bear when we listen to the needs of the body and the soul. When we grab it in the middle remembering that our body is just as real as our spirit and vice versa.

I am not however saying we need to give our instincts as much control as our spirit. I am saying that we need to care for all aspects of who we are, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. But there is one area of life, no matter how you look at balance, where we tend to try for balance and shouldn't. Balance is not always the goal. There doesn't need to be a balance between Daddy's will and way and mine. When I throw out the idea of a co-pilot role and give Daddy complete control, then I don't have to fear my own instincts causing problems. Those things we sometimes fear about the physical when we try to make life a spiritual journey become blessings rather than curses. God gave us those instincts. He gifted us with senses for pleasure and as tools. When they are under His control, our physical, mental and emotional drives can be sources of joy and service as much as our spiritual drives. We are not on a spiritual journey, not a mental, emotional or physical one. Each of those aspects is like one tire on our car. We need all four, and they need to be maintained and filled or life is going to be a bumpy ride. That balance is not dangerous when we remember that contrary to a popular bumper sticker, God is not our co-pilot. And it's not that He's the pilot and we're the co-pilot. He's the pilot and the navigator.


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