Do you remember the tragic, true story about John F. Kennedy, Jr. accidentally flying a plane into the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of Massachusetts?

Kennedy, his beautiful wife, and sister-in-law were killed because he failed to maintain control of the plane over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation and possibly other related factors.

I often think of this story when I’m tempted to live life by my feelings instead of biblical truth. In fact, I wrote a more in-depth post on the story and how it relates to spiritual realities here.

We can make the same mistake Kennedy did as we pilot our lives. The results can be disastrous. We can choose to fly by the instruments (God’s truths) OR we can choose to go with our feelings and emotions.

One of the first precepts in flying by the instruments (instead of by visual clues which were impossible for Kennedy because of poor visibility that particular night) is to ignore the body’s sensations.  Sensations can be wrong and are not able to tell pilots if they don’t have visual cues, whether or not they are right-side-up.

Emotions and feelings are good, but they have their place in our lives. They tell us important things about our experiences like if there is a problem we need to handle or if there are good experiences that we should cultivate more of in our lives. Emotions are assets that can inform us, but they should no be the only things or even the main things that drive our actions. It wasn’t until I got married and had children that I realized how important it is to separate my feelings and emotions from my responses to them. Living with others with many needs competing with my own brought out emotions that showed me a lot about myself, mainly my selfishness! I will be working on this throughout my life, but I go through seasons of needing to pay extra careful attention to my emotions. I’m in one of those seasons now. So, the question for this week is:

Will I pilot life by God’s Word or by my emotions and feelings?

It’s so tempting to go with feelings, but I’m finding that there is a blessing in doing the hard thing.

 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

-Jeremiah 17:7-8

The blessing in trusting God is growing in our relationship with Him and receiving the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

I’m refreshed when I live life this way:

When I fix my eyes on Jesus, trusting in Him and all I know of Him and how He’s instructed me to fly in life. When I resist trusting in myself, letting my passions and feelings rule, and the control I feel by my emotional responses.

This is hard.

It’s hard to slow down, yield, or stop in the face of strong emotions and feelings. I find that it takes more strength to yield, say or do nothing, consider; than it does to go forward in our own ways. Yielding to the Holy Spirit who lives in us, takes careful cooperation with Him. When we do cooperate in our weakness, we are strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

“Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.”

Proverbs 16:32

I once taught a Sunday School class in which we talked about how God is described as an eagle in His Word. As I prepared for class, I read about eagles and how they teach their young eaglets to fly. As you may know, eagles push their young out of the nest and then swoop down to rescue them as they fail and tumble toward the earth. Perhaps that is a more humble and clear picture of life than an illustration of us as pilots needing to trust only when we get flustered.

Yes, we are more like little eaglets, learning to fly and needing, often…always, the Lord’s wings to bear us up. The Lord rescues us and swoops us up as we tumble toward confusion, hardship, and even destruction.

“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to help you,
And in His excellency on the clouds.
The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms…”

-Deuteronomy 33:26-27

He bears us up as we yield to Him in the midst of our emotions. We are saved from more hardship, confusion, and destruction as we trust Him and respond to life according to truths about who He is and who we are in Him. We then grow spiritually, able to fly more easily as He enables us by His grace.

Linking up this week with these blogging friends:

Inspire Me Monday