Put It in the Basket (Part One)

Put it in the Basket (Part One)

If you are like me and struggle with control you will appreciate my vulnerability, here. If you don't struggle with control maybe you struggle with anger, addiction, overspending, substance abuse, infidelity, fear or worry. Whatever your difficulty, you will find this "basket" concept very liberating.

 If you have control issues, being a mom doesn't help. As a mom, we "control" so many things according to our better judgment. We decide what is appropriate to watch on TV and what is appropriate to listen to on the radio. We decide who is appropriate to befriend and who we want our children to stay clear from. We control what they will eat and what we forbid them to eat, especially when close to bedtime. We tend to be a little "overbearing" as we do our best to keep our little cherubs safe, like only allowing them to ride their bike to the corner and back. Am I alone in that one? Sometimes we set our expectations a bit high, all in the name of doing what we think is best.

This particular season in my life, I found that God was ready for His job back. I'm not implying that I ever thought I had the title, "God."  I did, however, feel like I had to keep control of my family so we wouldn't fall out of God's favor. If I made it my job to "guide" my family and hold them accountable, maybe they would make better decisions and in the process avoid hurting my heart. 

One day, I was adding up all the things going wrong in my life and something pushed me over the edge. As I sit here, I can't remember specifically what it was, but I remember being annoyed enough to allow my imagination to run wild. I began to fret and reason that life was bulldozing me over and I just didn't know what to do about it. And that's when the thought came to me, "Put it in the basket." I had no idea why that thought came to mind and I had no real idea what it meant.

I repeated what was impressed on me -- "Put it in the basket." I was doing some housecleaning and wondered what I was to put in the basket. As I continued with the phrase, I imagined a basket at the feet of Jesus. I imagined him standing there motioning me to place what I couldn't control in the basket. He would then take that basket filled with all of my grievances, assumptions, accusations, worries, fears and disbeliefs and walk away with it. I could see him in my mind's eye, tossing out things that were falsehoods (things that I made up in my mind but had no evidence to back it up).  All of the things that were sincere concerns with real and honest evidence, He promised to address it, in His way and in His time. 

Just like that, I was free of all responsibilities. I didn't have to dig to see who was "pulling one over me." I didn't have to assume the worst in anybody, anymore.  If I did have a thought, I would say to myself, "I'm just going to put that in the basket. If I need anymore information on this issue, Jesus will make sure to let me know."

For the first time in a very long time, or perhaps ever, I felt complete freedom!

I later found a small basket to place my prayers; my fears, my praises, my concerns etc. Three times a day, I would randomly pull out two prayers and spend time with Jesus. By the end of the day, I prayed for a total of six concerns that were close to my heart.