By Katy Mariotti

An Exercise in Trust

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Luke 12:11-12 English Standard Version

My kids recently found some old cell phones of ours that we had lying around. One of them still had pictures on it from the time when my daughter was born, nine and a half years ago! I had fun looking through them and then I came across this one. This is a picture of the lesson plans and materials I left for my substitute teacher when I went on maternity leave. Now my maternity leave was only for about a month, and yet still here was an entire binder full of plans and four boxes worth of materials!

This much preparation took me a really long time. I wanted the substitute to feel fully prepared, and I wanted my students to have a strong finish to their year. After I had my child, my focus was really on her and I didn’t think too much about what was going on in the classroom, but I did write a heartfelt letter to my 8th graders, who I had had all year and would not get a chance to say goodbye to before they moved on to high school. I forwarded the letter to the substitute and asked if he could read it to the class. His response?  “I will if I can get them to be quiet for long enough.” What?! I was shocked. The letter was only a paragraph. He couldn’t get them to be quiet for a paragraph? What then could possibly have happened to the other plans I made?

You’ve probably heard the phrase “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”  As much as we would like to have the illusion in our lives that we have control, we really don’t. Once I left, I had no control over what was happening in my classroom. And looking back, the substitute had only just graduated from college and was probably completely overwhelmed. It’s important to remember that when it comes to a lot of areas in our lives, God is the one who is in control. We don’t have to try so hard to hold on to things; we can let go and trust Him. And we can follow the advice in Romans 12:12:

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
ESV

The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, and we can trust and rejoice in hope!

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado