Trusting God or Grasping for Control?

Today’s Mass readings are excellent reflection material for contemplating how much we really trust God rather than ourselves. Do we grumble about our circumstances, like the Israelites in the First Reading, or are we the “rich soil†of Jesus’s parable in the Gospel Reading? With these texts as a backdrop, we take up a couple scenarios which challenge us to trust in God’s will for us rather than in our ability to control our circumstances.