As part of our ‘I Choose’ series at Breakfast Church, some of our church family have written short reflective poems to help us slow down and sit with these themes a little longer. Each poem explores one of the choices we’re talking about on Sundays.
These aren’t meant to be “answers” or instructions. They’re simply an invitation to pause, reflect, pray and notice what God might be stirring in you. You might want to read a poem slowly, come back to it later in the week, share it with someone else or let it lead into a quiet moment of prayer. Why not light a candle and slowly read …
I Choose Surrender Over Control
by Catherine Heilbronn
Loosen that grip
Do your hands ache from managing outcomes
Fingers curled around the days
like they might slip away if you don’t
Are you mistaking tension for vigilance?
Shallow breath
A body braced for a future
that you cannot deadlift into submission
Unclench
Let your plan fall
Let the illusion that you can hold the world
drop at your feet
Lift only what has been placed in your hands
The rest is not ours
Breathe in
You are held
Breathe out
You are held
Feel weightlessness correct your posture
This is strength that knows its limits
Release the need to steer
When the weight drops
it is not failure
It is trust
Grace steps in
where control collapses
Rest now
Notice how peace comes
not from holding tighter
but from standing correctly
under a weight you no longer carry alone
Surrender isn’t weakness
It’s correct form
under Holy weight