Dirty Dishes

I think I've realized recently how anal retentive I really am.
I guess I never saw myself as being OCD. I mean, I know that I like to do things a certain way, but I guess I never saw it as being anal or obsessive. I guess this all dawned on me yesterday as I was doing the dishes.
While I was sick this weekend, Josh had helped me out by loading up the dishwasher and making me food and such. There were more dishes in the sink yesterday, so I checked the dishwasher to see how much more I could put in there. But when I opened it up, I couldn't help but notice the way he'd loaded it. The sharp knives were interspersed between the rest of the silverware, the glass cutting board was in there, and he'd put the measuring cups in the silverware spots. While none of these things are horrible, I immediately pulled everything out and re-arranged them the way I would have loaded them. I hand washed the glass cutting board, put all the sharp knives in one of the silverware slots, and put the measuring cups on the top shelf in the dishwasher. I then proceeded to clean up the rest of the kitchen and put everything back in its 'place'.
But I guess the more I thought about it, the more I realized how silly it is for me to be so insistent on certain things being done my way. It wouldn't have hurt any of those items to be washed the way Josh had arranged them. They still would have come out clean and ready for their next use. And then I began to think about how similar this instance is to my relationship with God.
I insist on doing things my way all the time with God. I do whatever I can to make sure things happen the way I want them to...and when something goes wrong, I go to God and ask Him to fix it for me. Whereas if I just let things go and let things happen the way He wants them to, everything would come out great. Just like the dishes in the dishwasher still would have come out great the way Josh put them in there.
Isn't it amazing how God uses the little things in life to teach us lessons? If only I would learn this lesson and not have to keep reliving it all the time. Letting go and losing control...and letting God take over.
This also helped me a lot this week:
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. (James 4:13-17 NIV)