I spend a fair amount of time in my car shuttling my daughter around, running errands, and rushing off to meetings. Traffic is enough to make me want to jump from a moving car (which would be ugly), so I entertain myself by singing aloud (much to my kid's chagrin), listening to podcasts and thinking about my to-do list for the day. However, sometimes the greatest form of entertainment comes from the cars around me, especially the license plates! Do you see what people put on their plates? It's fascinating and gives me a much needed chuckle when I'm at a stalemate for 20 minutes! I came across one plate that made me pause, it said, 'IMABOSS.' It caught my attention because I thought about how being in power and control has a tight and detrimental grip around society. Everyone strives to be a boss! Authority, submission and dependency are associated with weakness and is frowned upon heavily.
As a single parent, it's normal for me to assume the title of boss. After all, I'm holding it down! I solely manage a household, cook, clean, pay the bills, mow the lawn, work, and do everything in between. Circumstances dictate that I'm in charge, so why is being a boss a bad thing? The issue creeps in when my independence clouds my need for dependence on the Lord. I get so caught up in trying to do all and be all that I forget that I could do nothing without God! When I'm in boss mode I also forget that everything I do should be to the glory of God and not the ego which cries out, "look at me I can do it all on my own, I don't need anyone, did I prove myself yet?" Being a boss for me stems from pride, fear of failure, and ego. I'm not the boss, God is and I learn this lesson often.
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." When you're the boss it is natural to lean on your own understanding, to trust in yourself to make decisions and plan out the course of your life. You are the authority in your life. For some of us who've been the boss for so long, submission and dependency conjure up feelings of helplessness and fear. There's nothing worse for a boss than to feel a loss of control. The problem with being a boss is that there's a cost.
Leaning on God is a gift that removes the unnecessary mountain of burdens we place on our shoulders when we want to be the authority. Bosses tend to believe that there way is the best way. They follow their own beat and stay on the path they believe is the right one, missing out on God's perfect plan for their life. God's authority is our protection, a shield that often stops us from ourselves! But if we are looking through our boss vision we can't see God's bigger vision for our life. When IMABOSS I spend countless sleepless evenings in a state of anxiety. I get caught up in a situation and because I'm super independent, I drive myself to the brink of insanity thinking about a solution, worrying about the next step, holding so tight to the situation that it consumes me. When I submit to God he takes it from me. He releases me, maybe not from the situation, but he unbinds me from the outcome. We can trust that God has it resolved and his grace is sufficient.
Being a boss is overrated. Being a child of God is the best position you will ever attain. There is a cost to being the boss, and it is a loss. A loss of God's blessed assurance that he is in total control of your life and has the details all figured out. Do yourself a favor relinquish the boss title and relish in your title as a daughter of Christ.
