Not According to Plan

The great common denominator to our existence on this earth…life not going according to the plan, handing out the unexpected and often the unwanted like someone sharing a bad cold.  Didn’t ask for it.  Didn’t want it. Didn’t even feel like it was deserved, but life has a way of ushering in these moments when we least expect them.  

The car won’t start, or if it does, there’s a flat tire.  The water heater decides its time to turn loose an epic Noah style flood that causes a mess.  Someone takes a fall off a bike and injures a foot, as in surgery and cast and ‘don’t walk on it’ injures.  A child disappoints.  A home burns down. A friend copes with a debilitating illness.  Another is blindsided by the sudden loss of a mate.  From the inconvenient to the unimaginable…the unplanned will happen in our lives.  

There has been, is, or will be a day in each of our lives that feels totally out of our control. Have I totally depressed you?  Not my intention.  I have always said that those terrible days are in our lives to make the other days look so much better!  

Like this kite, launched with laughter and made for a smooth flight, ends up stuck in a tree, sometimes our carefully plotted days do not go according to plan, but end up stuck in an unreachable spot where the solution isn’t clear. 

What feels unplanned from our vantage point, is still not out of God’s line of sight.  And a simple/complicated instruction comes from Joshua 1:9,  Defaulting to the NIV Reader’s version, maybe from years of childlike thinking on my part, it says Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. I am the Lord your God. I will be with you everywhere you go.

Notice this doesn’t say ‘get over it’, or ‘it’s not that bad’.   Sometimes it is!  Realize there is something beyond where we find ourselves at that moment.  Because this unwanted place we find ourselves isn’t the end of the story.