Living with Freaks

I feel like God has been showing me an important principle lately: taking the loss with others.

I am amazed at how often I want to control or manipulate other people's emotions or opinions. This is probably most true with my wife, Amanda, but certainly applies to others as well.

Sometimes I do this in order to get my way, of course. But sometimes it is because I feel totally responsible for the other person. And by this I mean responsible in a bad way.

But now I am beginning to understand that I do not need to predict, control, or be responsible for what other people think and feel. It sets me free to truly listen, to truly love.

I don't have to convince. I don't have to argue. And when asking someone something that pertains to a decision, I can release my expectations of what decision the other person is going to make. 

I take the loss - the loss of control, the loss of knowing the future, the loss of prediction.

And the result is a gain of freedom...the freedom to love.