I was standing in line, when an employee announced everyone needed to pay attention to the circles on the floor. We all checked the floor for our social distance and made adjustments at that point. A lady six feet behind me commented, “I feel like a kindergartener.”
Are you handling this Covid social distance thing like an adult or a child? I know of several people whose plans were upended in this pandemic. Scottish poet, Robert Burns, wrote a poem in 1785 comparing the trials a mouse endures when his house is upended to his trials. We are familiar with this line from this stanza:
But mouse you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
When our plans are turned upside down, it feels like there is a big “Closed” sign on the road we are traveling on. Now what; go back, go around, knock it down? It's good to plan, but it is wise to lay our plans before our Heavenly Father and admit we don’t see the big picture.
I know of a young woman whose life was upended when her husband decided he didn’t want to be married any longer and another whose wedding plans were disrupted with the Covid shelter in place. When my plans have taken an unexpected turn, I shed tears and ‘notify’ God. Of course, He isn’t taken by surprise.
After many decades, I still struggle with letting go and letting God. I’m not going to pontificate here, it’s annoying in the least and earth shattering in the worst. The woman whose wedding plans were upset decided to go ahead and marry on the date they had chosen. A handful of people attended the intimate ceremony and the others attended remotely on their computers. It was very personalized and meaningful and will be told for years to come to her children’s children. The woman whose husband chucked his vows and left her--she drew close to the Lord and hung on through thick and thin. Today, she is the mother of a young child and has a wonderful husband who loves her.
No one said the purification process is easy. When silver is purified, high heat and nitric acid are used. But the end product is shiny, beautiful, pure silver. God’s plan may not look like the rosy plan we wish for ourselves because his desire is, through those trials, we become more like His Son, Jesus the Messiah.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD (Adonai; Yahweh), plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)
Onward and upward!
Thanks for stopping in,
For more information on Robert Burns: