Overflowing Beyond Control

By Jessica Brodie

Have you ever had to fill up one of those old-fashioned ice cube trays? You know, the kind with little cups that trap water all in neat rows, and you pop it in the freezer for a while and voila—ice cubes?

Our refrigerator and freezer are old and slowly dying, and a few months ago the icemaker portion broke beyond repair. This is a huge problem for my husband and stepdaughter, who adore ice cubes, so we got a few of those plastic ice cube trays until we can save up enough money for a new freezer.

Ice cube trays are great, but sometimes they can get messy. You try to pour water in so it stays in the little compartments, but if you swivel the tray just a bit, the water sloshes out and rolls around the whole thing, and sometimes back out. And when you walk the tray from the sink to the freezer, if you’re not careful, the water can spill onto the floor, too, or onto the freezer shelf. It doesn’t just stay where it’s supposed to stay.

The other day as I refilled a tray, it occurred to me that’s sometimes how we treat God, or faith—as if we think God is supposed to stay in certain areas of our life, like little compartments of the ice cube tray.

See, many of us have different sides of ourselves, and we don’t like it when they blend. We have our work life and our church life, our home life and our romantic life. There’s our family life and our social life, our social media life and our athletic life. When I was young and still figuring out who I was, there was a different version of “Jessica” depending on who I was with. With friends I was one way, and with family another, and still another at work.

For some of us, it’s awkward when those aspects of ourselves blend. Imagine having a party where you invite everyone from every aspect of your life. For me in my early twenties, that would have felt so odd. Which “version” of me would attend that party? How would my work colleagues and my church siblings and my family and my going-out friends possibly have anything in common? Thankfully, I’ve figured out the “real me” by now, and I’m “just me” in every aspect of my life.

Some of us “handle” God this way, too. We like to put God in a little box, assigning him to certain places in our life where we think God is appropriate. It’s fine when God shows up at church, or in our family, but God at work, or God out to dinner at that chic new restaurant? Eek!

But God is God—God doesn’t get “handled” or relegated to his “proper, appropriate” place. God is the Master of Life and Creator of the Universe, the Almighty and All-Powerful. God gets an all-access pass to every corner of our life.

Attempting to control or manage our faith is an act of arrogance, and treating our God this way is demeaning and wrong.

Like the water in an ice cube tray, God flows where God wishes … and it’s a good and beautiful thing when God overflows beyond our control.

In fact, “our control” is just a myth if we really consider it. What exactly do we think we control?

In Mark 4, when the storm arose and the disciples were terrified they would drown, Jesus rebuked the storm, telling it to “Be still!”

The disciples were amazed—and alarmed at this display of power.

As the Bible tells us, “They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” (Mark 4:41 NIV).

We know, of course—he’s the Son of God, part of the Holy Trinity. The wind and the waves are no match for him.

Likewise today: Why do we think there are some places in our life where God “doesn’t belong”?

There’s nowhere in our lives God doesn’t belong.

God is Lord of our workplace and Lord of our home, Lord of our relationships and Lord of all the different aspects of what makes up our personality … the good and the shameful.

Today, wherever we are, remember that God sees all and knows all. If we are truly his followers, we must surrender every part of ourselves and our lives to him, now and always.

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