Skellig - David Almond

My children read this book in school. I had never heard of it before and I have only recently read it for myself. How I have missed out! Here's the story...

Michael moves to a new house which needs a lot of work doing to it. At the same time they move, his mother gives birth to his baby sister who is then very poorly and her life hangs in the balance. While all this is happening Michael stumbles on someone - or something - living in his dilapidated garage. A mysterious creature who is in need of his help.

This is not a new story - it is, in fact currently celebrating nearly 30 years of publishing! It is a story of loss and uncertainty and learning to stand on your own two (very shaky!) feet. There are so many truths we could look at from it's beautiful weaving of magic, but here's the one we will focus on today - we have no control.

It has taken me a long time to really admit this in my own life. And initially it has been a terrifying revelation! Followed by, mercifully, blessed assurance. At first I could only admit to not being in control of the 'big' stuff that went on - world wars, famines you know that sort of stuff. But then it rolled a little closer to home and I realised I did not, despite my gifts and talents, have control over my job, or where I lived or the lives of those closest to me. It turns out, however, that I have even less control than that. I cannot control what we have for tea tonight - mainly cos by the time I get to the fridge to cook it, someone will have eaten it. I cannot control how much loo roll we use nor can I control the remote control.

There are so many other factors that control my life. The other day I had to wear a wedding outfit (as in an outfit I bought for a wedding, I wasn't wearing the white dress and veil or anything) because what I wanted to wear that day was controlled by the fact I didn't do the washing the day before. And my laundry cycle was controlled, that day, by the fact my husband didn't bring the dirty laundry down to the machine. And he didn't do that because when he went to get the dirty laundry, he became involved in a fight in the bathroom over mascara (he was not involved in the fight, he just refereed.) And if I have no control over clean pants then I have no hope of being able to master something bigger like when I can use the loo (another classic fight in our house).

The story of Skellig really revolves around the lack of control Michael has in his young life. He has had to move house, his baby sister is sick, and there's something living in his garage that he can't get rid of. Welcome to life Michael! How we deal with this fundamental human truth has a vast consequences for our lives.

Some of us choose to fight this truth - we will just take control by force and then all will be well. Some of us just give up and let the cosmos take over - like Sadness in Inside Out. So what are we supposed to do?

Well, here's the Bible truth that answers our cry for order and the ability to pee without interruptions;

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19v21

God IS in control.

Praise the Lord someone is keeping this crazy train on the tracks! And praise the Lord that person isn't actually me. Life is too big for us to manage. If we were given control of it, the task would probably just instantaneously squash us. We need a bigger grown up - most of the time. Not just someone who can handle what life throws at us, but someone who had made those very things happen in the first place.

And I realise this raises some looming questions. If God is not just able to cope but actually making life happen then why is it so hard? Surely He would make it so we can catch a break once in a while? Surely He would stop the pain? And here is the deep (and very difficult) redemptive beauty of this truth; God, knows that we need the hardships - the pain. Our worst moments in life have a purpose. It is a weighty truth.

To help us understand this, let's take a minute to think of this from the other side. If God were merely able to respond to out of control situations rather than be in charge of them, then things would happen to us which were just random rolls of a cosmic dice. Bad things would still happen, but they would just be 'bad luck' or unfortunate for us. Which we could probably swallow in the small annoyances like the job we didn't get or the school our kids missed out on, but not when it comes to the deeply painful things like sickness and death and hurt. If those things were all just chance then the pain and suffering of them would have no more meaning than what I ate for breakfast.

Now lets think about it from the side we wrestle from. Because God is not just responding to things but ordaining things, there is a reason they are happening. Life is not just a game of chance, or a roll of a dice or a 50/50 split. It has meaning. And the pain and suffering that you or I or our little ones face is not pointless.

You don't have to know the destination, because you aren't driving the train, you just have to hold onto your seat. Wherever your day spins out of control today know this, to God it is perfectly on track.