3 Things You Should Do When Feeling Boxed In


Have you ever felt as if life were completely out of control? My family is in the process of unpacking all of our stuff after a move across state and I can tell you that we feel boxed in. As soon as one box is empty we toss it to the side to start on another. Before long we have a pile of empty boxes in the way. Several times I have been trapped by boxes and could not even get out of the room.

So I do not run aimlessly;

I do not box as one beating the air.

1 Corinthians 9:26 (ESV)


There is an old saying that men are fixers. If it is broken, we must find a way to fix it. Some say that we are conquerers. We have this innate desire to conquer, subdue, control, and fix things. If we cannot fix it, we feel weak.

There is an old saying that women like to fix others. They can look at anyone and tell you what is wrong with them and what they should do to become a better person. When that person will not change according to the prescribed plan, women feel frustrated.

These are generalizations of course, and I cannot vouch for women, but I know that as a man I am a fixer. And as a fixer, I struggle with the feeling that I do not need or want help to fix things. I don't need anyone else giving me the solution or telling me what to do. I'm a man. I know how to fix things.

If I continue to allow that feeling to control me, there will be times when my inability to bring order can create an atmosphere of frustration. Like an animal trapped in a corner, this frustration can build  into hostility or resentment toward those I perceive to be the cause of the mess. I have boxed myself in and I am running aimlessly beating at the air.

There are 3 things you can do when you find yourself in a similar situation:

  1. Admit you need help - Most recovery programs include this as step one. If you cannot admit you need help, you will continue to beat the air, wear yourself out, and the frustration level will continue to rise. 
  2. Ask for help - I am not sure why, buy most people seem to have trouble asking for help. I have seen people carry on long conversations in which they tell someone how they are not able to do something, yet never once ask them to help. It is a submissive gesture to ask for help. 
  3. Trust others - Once you ask for help, you have to let go and trust that the help that is given is going to work. When we fail to trust others, we get our big hands in the mix and make a mess of the situation again.


All of this information can be used for general problems, but what about eternal problems? These 3 steps are the same things you need to do in order to accept Christ: admit you are a sinner, ask for forgiveness, and believe in Jesus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dirty Feet

Image
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) I have never been very comfortable in shoes. It really doesn’t matter whether they have great arch support, ultra extreme amounts of cushioning, or how much they cost. The first thing I do when I arrive home is take off my shoes and stretch my once imprisoned feet by bending them at the arches and wiggling my toes. I then remove my socks and begin to feel my feet relax as the fresh air washes over my tingling, sometimes sweaty, toes. Pretty picture, I know. It must be the right thing to do. A billion Chinese could not be wrong. My mother could not be wrong. After all, she was the one who always told me to, “Take off your dirty shoes before you come in here. I just finished mopping this floor and I don’t want mud tracked all over my clean house.” It became a normal ritual around our house to put the dozen or so shoes away before company was expected. My mother didn’t want dirty f...
Read more

Pampered and Pacified

Author J.M. Barrie created the character that never wanted to grow up. Peter Pan, also the title of his famous book, did not want to become an adult and be forced to deal with all of the stress and struggles that came with the transformation. So Peter found his way to Neverland where, along with his lost boys, he could remain a carefree child forever. But those who know the story also know that carefree was not all that it promised for villainous Captain Hook constantly lurked around the corners, and then there was that tantalizing Wendy who stole Peter’s heart before he even knew what hit him. Millions of Americans have seemed to follow in the footsteps of Peter Pan. We have become a nation that no longer values the virtues of adulthood: especially responsibility, strong work ethic, self-dependence, selflessness, and community awareness. You don’t have far to look in our American society before you see lost boys, and girls, running around everywhere. Grown men and women who want ...
Read more

Ephesians 5 - Our Life of Love

Image
When I have learned to love God more than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now.” C.S. Lewis In a Nutshell Paul encourages Christians to be imitators of God and to walk in love. Don’t fall into a life of sin, but rather stand against sin and try to expose it. Use your time wisely as you follow God’s will. Let the Holy Spirit direct and influence your behaviors. As you do this, husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church and wives should respect and submit to their husbands. The Power of Example In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin tells of the time he wanted to convince the citizens of Philadelphia to light the streets at night as a protection against crime and as a convenience for evening activities. Failing to convince them by his words, he decided to show his neighbors how compelling a single light could be. He bought an attractive lantern, polished the glass, and placed in on a long bracket that extended from the f...
Read more