Article February 15, 1999 Issue

Tending mankind

Who's in charge of others? You or God?

By Sandra Wall

HAVE YOU EVER thought you knew exactly what was best for your friends and family and were not shy about telling them? How about forcing things in your own life that perhaps were not in your best interest? I was often guilty of this and quite often met with resistance. Although it's good to be responsible, helpful, and mindful of another's best interests, when help is unsolicited and perhaps intrusive, it may not be good.

My work in the electrical industry provided insight about the right and wrong way of helping others. Part of my job is to see that our customers receive proper voltage. A regulator determines the correct voltage based on the electrical requirements of the customer and then adjusts the voltage accordingly. It took me a while to realize that this is what I was trying to do in the lives of the people around me as well as in my own life—determine what the "requirement" was, and try to arrange for what was needed. I felt I had a good motive. But was it more a need to have things done my way, because I knew what was best?

A physical problem forced me to learn some lessons. There was a lot going on in my life, and I had to make some important decisions. I had prayed for guidance, but was not particularly happy with the answers! I felt a lot of anxiety and pain in the chest, sometimes quite severe. Added to this was fear resulting from a medical diagnosis I'd had many years ago that involved a malfunction of the heart. I had been told that I could expect problems later in life.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Where are you from?