Anyone who knows me knows that I love a plan. Actually, in most cases, I not only have a plan but also several contingencies lined up just in case. This could be because of my personality, from being the oldest child or countless other theories that if given the chance psychiatrists could spend hours unraveling. “Playing it by ear” is not in my comfort zone nor is “winging it.” I have resolved in my own mind that some of that is good because I get things done and you don’t want accounting-types just waiting to see how things turn out.
My Christmas plans went so contrary to my plans that I have to laugh (because the alternatives are not good). I had been thinking about the best time to go visit my family for a while because of work obligations for both my husband and me. Christmas was on a Saturday and we needed to be back for Sunday so we planned to leave earlier in the week. However, I couldn’t decide on Wednesday or Thursday. Things seemed to be working out to leave Wednesday afternoon so that became the plan.
Enter Car Trouble, Stage Left! To make a long story short, we barely made it to my parents in time for dinner on Thursday after spending all day Wednesday waiting at home and then five hours Thursday morning in the waiting room of the mechanics shop!
As I waited that morning I had plenty of time to think. We thought we’d only be a few minutes so I had nothing with me to read or do. I kept wondering what I was supposed to learn from all of this. I’m sure there are more lessons but one thing I need to remember is that things do not always go according to my plan. God’s plans for our lives are often much different than our own.
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21 NIV
“The LORD Almighty has sworn, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.’” Isaiah 14:24 NIV
I’m not sure that any great spiritual or theological lesson can be taken from car trouble and inconvenience. However, here are two things I learned and pondered:
I learned that my reaction and response were not what they should be. I had a bit of a pity-party instead of looking for the good things like time to relax and spend time with my husband, the interesting conversation we had with a young man who was also waiting and the kindness shown to us by the owner of the mechanics shop. I also have to wonder if these events were God’s way of protecting us somehow. After all, we were safe and basically warm in the waiting room. We could have broken down 100 miles from home in the dark and cold. I’d much rather have been where I was than on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.
Are you a planner? Even if you are not, do you have to have things go your own way all the time or else? I wonder what we might be missing in our determination to have things go our own way. If we are willing to bend just a little, God may have a blessing we would otherwise miss.
My plan for 2011 is to work on being a little more flexible. Will it go as planned? I’ll keep you posted!
Have a great day!