I Abdicate Responsibility for Others' Lives

I was feeling frustrated yesterday evening. I got home from work, talking under my breath about my husband who wants to start a new business but isn't doing the work to move forward. My son who says he wants to join the military but isn't studying for the ASVAB like the recruiter said to do. I was feeling so much responsiblity to push them, to make them move, make them take a step forward. After all, I'm their support system, right? Isn't that my job as a wife and a mother?

Suddenly I found myself in the middle of the kitchen, supper simmering on the stove behind me, and I yelled out - I give up all responsiblity for others' lives! Do you hear me? I abdicate all responsibility. It's up to them to do the work, it's up to them to live their lives and make their choices. There's nothing I can help them with at this point. They have to take the next step themselves and I abdicate responsiblity!

I felt so much better after this outburst. I have no idea where it came from or what led me to do it. I just knew it felt right and I finished making supper and spent the rest of my evening working on MY work instead of trying to do their work.

Who are you trying to "make" move in a certain direction? Let it go, abdicate responsibility, let them work it out, and go about your day.

Releasing the Outcome

Never be too hasty with a decision. Remember that we are creating our lives, and sometimes when we say we want something, and we get it, it may come in a completely different package than we expected originally. That is why we should always be open and willing to see things come in a different way. If we stay attached to how we think things SHOULD happen, then we'll be disappointed over and over again.

We've all heard the joke about the man in the flood. He is sitting on the roof of his house, surrounded by water. He prays to God to save him. Soon a man in a rowboat comes by and offers to help him down. The man says, "No, God will save me." An hour later a family in a motorboat comes by and offers to help him, but he again turns them down, saying that God will save him. Then an hour later a man in a canoe comes by, and he gets the same story. As he's left alone again, the man looks up to God. "God, why haven't you saved me?" And he hears a voice from heaven - I sent a rowboat, a powerboat and a canoe. What more do you want from me?

Our lesson here is that sometimes what we think we need to happen a certain way doesn't need to be that way. Apparently the stranded man was wanting a supernatural rescue. When the rescue came in a perfectly normal way, he questioned that it could be of God. But God sends people to us when we need them. Everyone in our life, every experience in our life, is there for a reason.

So the next time you are wanting something to happen, release yourself from the need to have it happen a certain way or be in a certain place. Stay open, stay watchful, and when the time comes and the answer is in front of you, don't turn away from it because it's not what you envisioned.