It wasn't in my plan....

I am joining my friend, Lisa, today for One Word Wednesday.  This is the day that she supplies us with a word and we write....about whatever that word brings to mind.  Today's word is plan.

One of my favorite sayings is "We Plan and God Laughs".  We really think we have it all together...we plan our weddings.  We plan when we will have children.  We plan how those children will be perfect little angelic things that never do what "that" kid is doing.   We plan what kind of job we will have.  We plan when we will retire from those jobs.  We plan all the wonderful things we will do when the kids are grown, the jobs are over, the obligations are done.  We plan and plan and plan and......God laughs.

He laughs at our naivety and bluster.  He laughs at our belief that we can do all of these things on our own. He laughs that we hold ourselves and our children and our family and our friends on a higher level than we hold others.  He laughs and laughs and laughs...

And He sends us trials and tribulations throughout our marriages.  And He sends us children who are human and do not know how to behave unless as parents we train them.  And He gives us jobs that may not be what we had hoped and dreamed but we stick with them because He has given us those marriages and children that we told Him we wanted.  And He laughs when it becomes time to retire and one of the partners in the marriage is no longer able to do what they had dreamed or there are parents that need to be cared for now and we had not planned on that...He laughs...because who were we to think that we could make all these plans without considering what it is He wants from us...He requires from us.

We are so busy making our plans and trying to see our plans through to fruition that we forget to stop and notice all the wonderful things He has given us and all the wonderful plans that He has for us.  He did not give us those children to mold into little images of angels that would make people stop and notice how wonderful we are!!!  He gave us those children to mold and love and to teach to love their God and their fellow man who they should see in God's image.  He laughs because He did not give us those jobs so that we could make our dreams come true...He gave us those jobs so we could be of service to others.  He laughs because we spend all the time he has given us working diligently, not taking time to enjoy our children or our spouses or the life He has provided for us because we are planning for the future...and then the future never comes because we have never learned to live in the present.  He laughs.

But not in spite and not in meanness but in amazement that as much as He has tried to show us His love and His perfect plan we are too busy planning despite Him.

And WOW...let me just say that when I first started typing this...these were not the words that were in my mind...I was going to talk to you about how even the best laid plans are subject to change.  How I had not planned on caring for my Pops while he died nor for my Mom when she became demented.  How I had never planned to put my Mom into a memory care center.  But I guess God had different plans so he put these words on my heart and in my fingers as they typed.  That was His plan and I am happy to be the instrument He used to share it.

Thank you for listening......

I am going to keep Thriving at Home.  You should hop on over and share how you Thrive at Home.