A Life Interrupted (Three Word Wednesday)
My journal propped up against my knees, I write and sip my grapefruit water (my new favorite beverage)
Half the pool is shaded now as the afternoon moves out and evening moves in. My muscles, tense earlier, relaxed by a walk, a soak in the pool and some great conversations with some of my children. Truth is, none of this was on my schedule.
My plans for the day were written in the early morning hours complete with small lines for check marks after I completed the jobs. They sit vacant another day because the Lord had other plans. He often does.
A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure. .- Proverbs 16:9
A My mind is great at planning my way.
_____ Write Three Posts
_____ Clean house (especially downstairs)
_____ Weed flower garden
_____ Finish painting around fireplace and put all pics back up
_____ Sweep pool deck
_____ Clean up campfire pit
_____ Make poster board schedule (Camp Lemon-Lime)
* Camp Lemon-Lime starts Thursday the 16th at lunch and ends Sunday, the 19th at lunch-the reason for the extended to-do list. All the kids and grandkids are coming for fun, hiking, swimming, hammock swinging, campfires (more about this after the fact).
The Lord often leads me in a different direction. While my mind says get ‘er done, the Lord leads me like the sheep in Psalm 23 with His rod and staff. I’m the sheep holding up the rear, kicking and fighting every step of the way until I see those green pastures and I lie on a pool float in still waters. He says to me, rest, my burden is light, it’s easy to bear. Let me refresh your soul. I’m refreshed with a new attitude, my mind transformed when I pray, Not MY will, but thine, Lord. He chooses to fill my day with conversations quickened by coffee with Ania and a friend while eating waffles with homemade raspberry syrup. Blessings I would have missed because they weren’t on my checklist.
Hours later, Gregory comes home to wash clothes and eat lunch. We catch up while I make chicken salad and we eat cherries and strawberries while we stand around the island. Ania bursts in the back door and I smile. The pool she life guards closed early due to rain. We all join in, conversing, laughing.
Nothing on my checklist accomplished. It’s a long lunch that moves outside when the sun makes an appearance.
The day spends itself as the Lord wills. The interruptions are my life. I can see the green pasture or run back to the list of pen and paper, commanding me to jump through hoops and qualify for life by my productivity. A test of my soul. Do I believe the truth that I am valuable when I don’t complete my self-imposed check list? Do I value those around me in the same manner by lavishing my time on them, not spending, but investing.
CHECK.
I give myself a giant check mark. O Happy DAY! Well spent. Well offered, Lord. The path laid before me was better than the one I had planned.
Linking up with Kristin Hill Taylor for Three Word Wednesday!