{day twenty-two) at the foot of the cross I lay down your way...

At any given moment of any given day, I can waste a colossal amount of time fretting over the decisions of others.  Wondering how they can act the way they do.  Or do and say the things they do.  I can wring my hands and shake my head and fight for air over their lackadaisical, carefree, willy-nilly ways. 

It's too much to bear some days.  I mean, seriously I have bigger things to worry about than the way you are doing life.  Your way. 

But I do.  

I worry. Over you.  Your ways.  And how they are oh-so-very-different than mine.

I'm neurotic that way. 

It's okay if you are thinking the same.   I've come to grips with my frustratingly, mistakenly, backwards way of thinking that I have it all figured out and my way is oh-so-better than yours.  After all, I'm right.  And you are not.

It is nothing short of ludicrous. 

I never said I wasn't a fool.  Or at the very least, I possess foolish ways. 

Like the beautiful snow that covers the winter landscape {not here, but I've seen pictures}, each flake that makes up that landscape is special.  Unique.  Different.  No two are the same.  And yet the mixture of them all together is breathtaking.

Our lives are no different than snowflakes.

If I believe to the very core of my soul that we were hand-crafted and molded in the image of God and that we are all unique.  No two people are the same.  God made us all differently, by the same Hands.  And He placed a specific purpose and an unique way in our hearts. 

And I do.  I do so much very believe all of that.

Then, I must also believe that your way of doing and saying things and your way of deciding how to do life is exactly how you are purposed to lead the life He created you to live. 

I must also believe that your way of doing life is right for you.

Which means, today, I lay down my worry over your way.  It is not my way.  But it doesn't make it wrong.  It makes it uniquely yours.  And that's okay.  Just as He fashioned me and my way of doing life, He did the same for you.  We are mere balls of clay in the Potter's hand.  I want to live my life in such a way that I continue to be moldable and moveable by Him.  Which means, I have to let go of the worry that I have over your life.  Your decisions.  Your way of doing life.  By letting go of your way, I can be fully guided by Him for the path set out before me.

Yet, Lord, you are our father.

We are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the product of your labor.

Isaiah 64:8

What about you?  Do you ever find yourself worrying over the decisions and actions of others, as if you know what is truly best for their lives?