Snow and Self Control

I've said many times that our ability to control anything in life is equivalent to that of us controlling the weather. Just as it can be fourteen degrees and snowing one week in Georgia, and a week later hit seventy degrees with beaming sunshine, so our life can go from one extreme to the other in a matter of minutes. God is ultimately in control of everything, and those who disagree wonder what the point of living is if we have no control. Graciously, we weren't created to be puppets or robots, so there is one thing we can control: ourselves. Now this may seem a bit oxymoronic, since I've repeatedly stated God's ability to direct our steps, change our circumstances, and guide our lives. However, in keeping within His Spirit, we are given fruit, which is exactly how you can tell whether someone really does follow Jesus or just claims to be a Jesus-follower. We are all evident by the fruit that we bear. You can claim to follow a team, but without true loyalty, you probably wouldn't score great seats. If you say you love someone, but then belittle, undermine, and gossip about them, then your fruit shows its true rotten color.
God gives us nine pieces of "Spirit fruit" that we should seek to embody every day: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. There is the control that we maintain- self. Since the first man and woman, we were given the opportunity to make decisions for ourselves. The challenge arrives when we must first fully surrender ourselves to God, so that we begin to make decisions that reflect the Spirit of God and not our natural selves.
My three year-old is working to comprehend this piece of fruit right now. I tried to explain it in simple terms. Self-control is when you really want to do something, but you don't do it. You may struggle with self control when it comes to bad habits, but you also may struggle with self-control when it comes to making decisions about good habits. Some people can't say no to exercise, while others battle laziness. Some people over eat, while others starve themselves. Self control is our God given ability to say yes and no to things that we really want because we ultimately desire God's will more than our own. Jesus certainly did not want to suffer and be separated from His Father, but He desired God's will more than His own. He could have chosen through himself to get off the cross and punish everyone in sight, but he chose God's will because He knew it was best. That's the kind of love and selflessness that I want to embody. Without the fruit of the Spirit, we are all doomed to hurt one another because of our lack of self-control. Thank goodness for grace, thank goodness for God.

God gave us some unexpected fun last weekend in the form of icy snow! And the underlying ice made for slippery selves losing lots of standing control!