Today

Today my plan was to head to story time, followed by a picnic lunch at a nearby park, and maybe a walk down by the river. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Unfortunately, Bubby's plans were different: to go fishing. We compromised by hiking to a waterfall followed by running a few errands.

As we were walking back up that steep, steep hill (I'm always surprised by just how steep it is--selective amnesia, I guess), I started thinking about plans. Have you ever heard that saying, "we plan, God laughs"? We know that God has great plans for us, but how often do we say to God, no, I don't really want to do your plan today--I had something else in mind? Now really, I can't say that my plan was any better than Bubby's plan for today, and our compromise ended up being (probably) better than either of our separate plans, but how in the world could our puny little human plans ever possibly be better than God's good plans for us? How many times do we stamp our feet metaphorically, stubbornly insisting on our own way, and force a compromise, that may be good, but is merely a shadow of God's intention for us?

I remember one year on my birthday, I must have been turning 4 or 5, something like that, and our family's plan was to go to McDonald's to celebrate. It sounds funny now, I'm sure, but I had probably only been to any restaurant less than 10 times in my entire life, so McDonald's was a big treat, and I was really looking forward to it. We all piled into the car and drove off. When we stopped, we were not at McDonald's, and I threw a major fit. I don't know if my parents even managed to talk me into getting out of the car. My Dad had driven to a mini-golf course, to surprise me--it was free for birthday girls, and they were planning on going to McDonald's afterwards. My parents had good plans for me--they thought I would enjoy playing mini-golf, and they were probably right, but in my frustration at the change in plans, I refused to let the good plan happen to me (sounds like something Logo would do!).

One of the things that being a mother has taught me is that sometimes, I just have to let go of my plans. Things happen. Today I figured if I dragged Bubby along and he didn't want to be there, neither of us would be happy. I don't like letting go of my plans, and it's rarely easy, but, as I experienced today, sometimes letting go of my intentions turns out better than I could have anticipated. How much better is God's plan for us?! Friends, I urge you to let go of your plans and to let God's good plan happen to you--you may not like it, it might not be easy, but it will be so much better than anything you could have dreamed.