Next
the REST of the week #118
Did any of your “best laid plans” crash and burn this past week?
Hats off to you who are planners, who can organize everything from a daily routine to a major event right down to the minutest detail—and pull it off. I need you. The world needs you. I have tried to be you—without much success.
It seems that something always comes up. Not always as catastrophic as a pandemic, but unforeseen events significant enough to make the whole process of nailing down detailed plans feel a little pointless.
I suspect the ability to plan in this manner is related to personality and gifting. I also understand that planning can be a comforting way of organizing life and having some semblance of control over what will be.
But it can also feel a little confining. Security is great, but the thought of writing down what I’m going to be doing in 3 months at 3 pm feels uncomfortable. What if something else comes up? Give me an ocean of options and let us please keep them readily available.
You never know what is going to happen that might turn the priority list for a certain point in time completely upside-down. Or when you’ll have to go do something on the spur of the moment.
So we need each other. You make bring stability and ensure that everything will run smoothly. And if something outside of our control happens, I will come to life and offer options—maybe even turn it into an adventure so that our experience is even better than we had expected.
But even those of us who thrive on spontaneity have our limits.
My sisters and I have been planning our parent’s 60th wedding anniversary—important, top priority. Thankfully, the planners amongst us made posters with lists right down to the ingredients needed and a fantastic google doc with what happens when.
Ricardo and I worked with the still forming summer plans of our young adult sons and figured out the best way to get there and back. This involved me cashing in on a companion fare ticket with Ricardo. My parents, who were visiting us, booked their return flights with us.
Then came the last minute unexpected.
This time, it was an emergency that meant I had to travel with my own ticket and if you’ve recently tried to book a last minute flight involving hours of sitting on a plane, you know these things can cost a small fortune.
There are stories that are not mine to tell and all of this is so much more than just changing one’s travel plans. These are changes involving life and how we live it.
How do you rest when plans unravel, when you don’t have control over the big stuff, when there’s been one too many changes in your life?
My go to right now is to take the advice of Edmund Sprunger1 and just focus on what to do next.
What do I do next?
I ask for enough light for the next step and then I take it.
I leave the future whens and hows to emerge as I go along.
I trust that Someone is going before me and I’m not stepping off an abyss, but following.
And I’m grateful for the mercies along the way.
(I ended up flying to a different city and catching a ride with my sister and brother-in-law. We had a wonderful time and my parents made it home without a hitch. Unexpectedly, Ricardo was able to be with his mom on her birthday. And a few other blessings.)
But the path of the just is like the shining sun,
That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.(Proverbs 4:18 KJV)
May you rest even as you take the next step.
Alicia
Helping Parents Practice: Tips for Making it Easier. A practical, brilliant book that every parent can benefit from—even if your child isn’t taking music lessons. If you are trying to teach anyone anything, or are coming alongside as a helper, you know how discouraging it can be to make mistakes. It can feel like maybe you’re doing more harm than good. Sprunger encourages us to let go of that and think about what to do next, which will keep us growing forward and enable us to get better at it.