by Sandy Kirby Quandt @SandyKQuandt

My husband has a private pilot’s license which gives him the authority to take an airplane up in the sky, fly it around, and land it safely. When he is behind the controls of a plane, he is the Pilot in Command (PIC). Sometimes he may temporarily hand off the controls to the person seated next to him. Someone he believes is capable of handling the plane for a brief period of time. 

If there is turbulence, the co-pilot becomes weary, or there is too much air traffic, he will resume control of the plane to ensure safety stating, “My plane”. Not in an arrogant, “Get your hands off the controls” tone, but in an “I’ve got this” manner.

During a recent email exchange with a good friend, he mentioned how during his Air Force days the saying was “God is my co-pilot. So God lets you fly the plane ’til you break or ask for help. Pride stops the call for help.”

When my friend wrote this, I was in the middle of a season of pride stops the call for help in my writing. Ever been there?

We feel confident we can fly this bird, this writing business. We know we’re headed for publication. We’ve filed our flight plan and edited our manuscript. We’ve checked the weather report and found the right agent, editor, publisher. We have completed the preflight walk around, kicked the tires, and are ready to light the fires. We strap ourselves into the pilot seat and taxi down the runway. We send our manuscript on its way. 

We do fine until the turbulence of rejected manuscripts hits, the plane of our hopes and dreams drops, or is buffeted with a crosswind of bad reviews or poor sales. Other authors’ planes descend from the clouds and fill up the sky. Lots of chatter fills the radio, and we can hardly think for all the static of you have to do this, you can’t do that, you’ll never get it done that way, no one will read a book about that. We’re desperate. We’re weary. We’re tired of the job. It isn’t fun anymore. In fact, it’s a whole lot of work. 

That’s when we realize there is someone who can handle the plane of our writing a whole lot better than we can. God.

We might hesitate, figuring we’d look weak if we gave the controls over too quickly. Maybe the turbulence will calm down. Maybe the other planes will get out of our way. Maybe the static that fills our heads will quiet. Then again, maybe not.

Going back to what my friend said, God lets us fly our writing plane ’til we break or ask for help. Pride stops the call for help. Could it be our pride is responsible for the death grip we hold on the controls? Determined to hang on to the last possible moment rather than admit we can’t do this on our own? Refusing to let God be the Pilot in Command?

If, like me, somewhere in your writing life you strapped God into the co-pilot seat, might I make a suggestion? Scoot over and let God be the Pilot in Command. As the PIC, God has the final authority over our writing. He has the authority to deviate from any rule to the extent required to achieve what he deems best for each situation. 

God will do a better job directing our writing journey than we ever could. He’ll raise us up above the turbulence, help us fly, and grease those landings when it’s time to land.

Ready to hand over the controls?

Sandy Kirby Quandt is a former elementary school educator and full-time writer with a passion for God, history, and travel; passions that often weave their way into her stories and articles. She has written numerous articles, devotions, and stories for adult and children publications. Her devotions appear in two Worthy Publishing compilation books; So God Made a Dog, and Let the Earth Rejoice. She has won several awards for writing including the 85th and 86th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Young Adult category, First Place in the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Children’s Literature 2016 Foundation Awards, First Place in the 2017 Foundation Awards in the Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Flash Fiction categories. Looking for words of encouragement or gluten-free recipes? Then check out Sandy’s blog, Woven and Spun. When The Way Is Steep