Consider the Lilies of the Field: Surrendering While Doing the Work

I’ve been reading Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, and it’s been hitting me in a way I didn’t expect. There’s a part where he says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin.” And it stopped me. That scripture always floated somewhere in my mind, but reading it in the context of Phil Knight’s journey made it land with a different kind of weight.

Because if there’s anything I struggle with — especially as someone in recovery, someone who wants to build, grow, create, change the world — it’s control. I try to control outcomes. I try to reverse-engineer success by building systems that force certain results.

And honestly, that works… until it doesn’t.

I can create systems for my physical health.

Systems for my mental health.

Systems for my spiritual health.

Systems for my marriage, my finances, my work, my income.

And all of those are good. Systems matter. Systems shape identity.

But then you read: “Consider the lilies of the field…”

They don’t grind. They don’t obsess. They don’t attempt to force outcomes.

They grow because they are rooted. They grow because they exist within a larger order — something deeper, something unseen, something beyond their control.

And that’s where it hit me.

In The Work That Sets You Free I wrote:

“You do not become stronger by avoiding the hard parts of your life. You become stronger by walking straight into them and doing the work with honesty and intention.”

But I also wrote this:

“You have to do the work, and you also have to surrender to the work. Freedom is built in the tension between effort and release.”

That’s the catch-22 of life — especially in recovery.

You build the system, but you cannot control the timeline.

You do the work, but you cannot force the outcome.

You show up every day, but you cannot demand the reward.

I can say,

“I want to be a millionaire.”

“I want to run a six-minute mile.”

“I want 12 percent body fat.”

“I want to impact millions with my book.”

And I can make systems to get there.

I can create the calendar, the habits, the rhythms, the checkpoints.

But at a certain point… I have to let go.

I have to surrender the outcome.

I have to trust the process.

I have to believe that the seeds will grow even if I don’t sit there and watch the soil.

Because my brain — the addiction brain, the impulsive brain, the now-now-now brain — wants results today. It wants breakthroughs today. It wants success today. It wants healing today.

But real healing… real becoming… real transformation… always takes longer than you think.

Double the time.

Triple the time.

Sometimes quadruple.

That’s why surrender is the secret. And it’s the hardest part.

It’s the serenity prayer lived out daily.

Do what you can do.

Release what you cannot.

And trust that the work — the good, honest, intentional work — will bear fruit in its season.

The lilies grow because they trust the soil.

We grow when we trust the process.

So today, wherever you are, whatever you’re building:

Do the next right thing.

Stay faithful to your system.

Surrender the outcomes you cannot control.

And let yourself grow in the time it takes to grow.

Hope you’re having a blessed day.

Take care of your mental health.

And keep doing the work that sets you free.