AN UNNATURAL LIFE SKILL

Surrender is one of those words that smells of cowardice and utter defeat. It is a word of last resort and one that has the connotation suggesting that you, me, we have been subverted and/or undone. Nothing about surrender is voluntary under the normal trajectory of our maturation from childhood to adulthood. We’re taught not to surrender. We’re taught that surrender is what we do when the cops have you dead-to-rights. You’re caught and consequently…you get the idea. But the truth for me is that surrender is as much a journey as much as it is a virtue. My earliest bouts with surrender were like a tug-of-war with the big brotha down the street who toys around with you until he’s ready to put you away. As an athlete, I literally told God at one point in my life that he could try to stop me if he wanted but I was going to play professional basketball or die trying. The life skill of surrender was being developed.

And the funny thing is that it had nothing to do with basketball. It was about pretending to have an indomitable spirit when in essence I was consumed with self-worship. I was committed to me, to my own satisfaction and my own validation by any means necessary. The hard part about surrender is that it is where the title Lord identifies its owner. Surrender is unnatural because control  is at a premium in the United States and perhaps beyond. With control comes power and to suggest for one second that being like Christ requires surrender cuts to the quick. It is either a watershed moment or an impasse, either an altar of transformation or an instance of arrogant obstinacy. But the benefit of relinquishing, surrendering, letting go is that if anyone is worthy of your vulnerability it’s the great God of the universe. He’s either God or he’s not. Very few words have only negative definitions and surrender is not one of them. Surrender is an invitation to a benevolent and sovereign God who quiets the heart and reestablishes the proper order of creator to creature.