Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

May 26, 2014

Turning something over to God shifts our energy to allow for change.

I don’t understand my higher power.  That is why it is my higher power.  If I understood it, it would simply be my power.  But, gratefully, it is my HIGHER power which I do not understand at all.  Given that, the spiritual power of prayer and how it works in my life (and, believe me, it absolutely does work in my life) confounds me.  But the psychological power of prayer I understand quite well.

When we are overwhelmed by issues and problems, we want to control and fix them.  Unfortunately, much of what is creating these problems is beyond our control and when we put energy into trying to change things we cannot control, we feel increasingly frustrated.  However, when we pray and ask our higher power to take over, we mentally let go of and stop trying to control that which we cannot.  Then a remarkable thing happens.  We begin to put our energy into things that ARE in our control and influence.  Suddenly things start to shift.  Was this change all because of us?  No!  Was part of this change us?  Yes!  Psychologically, prayer allows us to let go of what we cannot change and put our energy into that which we can.  We do our part of creating change and our higher power does the rest.

What am I trying to change that is out of my control such as my emotions, other people’s choices or behavior, or reality itself?  What would happen if I let go and turned this over to my higher power?  What can I control or influence?  How might these actions allow for change?