It’s not a great feeling to have your life out of control, but that’s usually the way it is.  We would like to be able to control lots of things in our lives, but that just isn’t realistic.  Most of us are familiar with the saying “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  I had this hanging on my wall when I was growing up, but I have to admit I didn’t really give it that much thought.

How much can you really control?  The answer is: not much.  We can control our own behavior, and how we choose to react when things happen to us.  It’s hard, but we can do it.  And really, that’s about all we can do.  Our lives are just one event after another of someone else’s choices affecting us, and then us having to decide how we are going to react.

What that saying means to me is this:  focus on what I can change, which is my own attitude, and have the strength to make the hard choices to have the best attitude possible, then just let the rest happen.  Otherwise we spend so much time and energy trying to control things, and failing, and feeling frustrated at our failure.  Which of those seems like a better option to you?