Dear Storm,

Take that!

Sandwiches are Beautiful....

When I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is make a cup of coffee, in my one cup coffee maker.  As I walked through my coffee ritual this particular Saturday morning, I found the stove top covered with the remnants of making a quick lunch.   My eldest has to work today.   He has to bring enough food to eat for an entire day and leaving the farm to fetch a burger isn’t an option.   At times I give the maternal prod to make lunch the night before, but one must recognize the fine line when one has said this often enough for it to take hold.  And so one holds one’s tongue.  

The Nutella jar sat on the middle of the stove top, the knife lay beside it (Nutella side down), and the crumbs were scattered all around; a typical vignette of adolescence. 

 

In the fridge is a container of freshly opened packages of cold cuts.  Their sole purpose is to be combined with various condiments and toppings into lovely sub sandwiches: Support materials to facilitate the maternal prod.  He could have had a great lunch (that he would have enjoyed immensely) if he had given himself a little time and recognized the resources nearby. Instead, he reached for the only thing he could think of while he was pressed for time on his way out the door. Typical teenager. It’s food and he’s not fussy. 

Isn’t life just like that sometimes?

Many times we are on our way somewhere, or have to do something important, and we just do it quickly with what we know we have at hand.   We also do the tasks that we sense God nudging us toward.  We carry out the job with what we know; not always stopping to realize that God has so many more resources at the ready if we only ask and give it time.  His time. His Way.   When He gives the prod…He also stands ready with the resources to facilitate it!  He equips the called.

Imagine yourself being filmed for a day…as a reality show contestant…24/7  The camera pans in on all the creative things that you unknowingly walk past because you’re heading to the cupboard to grab the usual, the trusted.  It will get the job done.  I wonder what we must miss out on once in a while: what we’d see if we could have a look at the whole picture.   How much more it could be…and conversely, how much more fulfilling it can be when we do His work with the resources He has in mind.

Today I let my mind wander while my hands were busy with Saturday morning household chores, made fun because we do them together…well…at the same time anyway.  I thought about the project I am working on and how easily I could do it all by myself and enjoy every minute of it. I would enjoy it, but be exhausted.   Then I thought about asking some people who are really gifted in various areas, and how much enriching their contributions would be….hmmm.  They would add their bits and we would enjoy it, even more…together.   That might be exactly what God has in mind.

I wonder what will be in this boy's lunch tomorrow….    If he were to read this, I think he'd suggest I add my bits and we’d enjoy the enriched experience together….

The Plan

Sometimes God's plan for one's life can appear to have logical flow to it.    The future looks like it is laid out so neatly. It's easy to "go with the flow".  You can see the role you are supposed to play: the steps that should be taken.    And then....the proverbial apple cart is upset.   You witness it in slow motion and see all the apples in mid air slowly arcing upward in every direction.   And you hear the screech of the needle being pushed across vinyl.

Is this an interruption of God's plan?  Was there a misstep and is this the correction? Or, in His infinite wisdom, did God design His plan to look like this, airborne apples and all?

I read a devotion yesterday from "Today is Your Best Day"by Roy Lessin, the one about recognizing God's plan and how God's plan may not take you in the direction you were expecting.  It may even contradict what God promised you. "Abraham had a promise from God that his son, Isaac, would be heir to God's covenant promise, but Abraham never thought that God would test his faith by asking him to offer Isaac on an altar. ....Peter heard Jesus' promise to make him a fisher of men, but Peter, a devout Jew, had no idea that God would use him to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles..."

So what do you do when the route unexpectedly changes.  Do you run around and try to catch all the apples before they hit the ground, or do you let the apples drop where they may?   Did I trust the plan more than the Planner?    I have to remember that He is the Guide and I am the follower.    Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." On days like this I don't understand the plan and lose my bearings, it doesn't make sense.  God's wisdom can seem foolish to us. But I know I can trust His promises.   I know they never fail and that my trust is never misplaced. I can trust His plan even when I don't understand it.  Even when I can't see the next step, I know He is with me. 

So do not fear, for I am with you;

   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
   I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

Isaiah 41:10

I know...easy for me to say, but the alternative is that I have to figure this out on my own.   And we all know that there is no way I can juggle all those apples.....