I Have the Conn

I know and have known many people who's philosophy on life centers around "giving control up to God." Though I don't begrudge them this philosophy, it has always bothered me somewhere in the back of my mind. I could never figure out why, exactly, until today.

I was driving down the road today, and saw a bumper sticker. It read: "If God is your co-pilot, switch seats!" That sort of solidified for me what had been nagging at the rear of my brain. I was always taught (and have seen for myself, as it were) that "God helps those who help themselves." You work hard; you persevere; you attain that which you strive for. The idea of just saying, "Ok, God. You do it." just baffles and annoys me. To quote the punchline from one of my favorite jokes, "I sent you 3 boats and a helicopter, what more did you want?"

Granted, for many people, that saying means something less than that. Letting God choose the direction, more than letting him do all the work. This still bothers me. But more because the idea (I thought) of being given free will was to see what you do with it. Your life is your own - to make your own choices. If you don't make your own decisions, you've missed the point entirely. You've also missed out on life. Life is the decisions you make. If you do not make any, have you lived? If all you did was follow the decisions made by someone else - even God - you've just given them another life.

That may be acceptable (or even desirable) to some, but I couldn't live with it. For other people, I'm not sure that I can even respect it, but I do accept it.