Patience in Planning

Unsplash/Svitlana

 

 

 

Thinking back to the most successful diet plan I ever had, my mantra back then was an easy and acceptable one to this one who was reluctant to give up the foods she loved: “You can still eat whatever you want… just not all on the same day.”

I was willing to stick to the plan if it meant I could still have pizza and chips… but in measured amounts at specific moments in time. I could still have it all… just not all at the same time.

So Ann Voskamp’s blog on the subject of women’s desire or ability to “have it all” in life rings true to me. There were lots of “not now”s and “later!”s in my marriage and motherhood years… but they worked together to create a life I loved an am still enjoying today.

I’m finding the same to be true in retirement. I entered it with a long list of things to do or try, now that I am schedule-free. And I was dismayed to realize that I couldn’t do it all… at least, not all at once. In the year and a half that I’ve been work-free, I’ve learned to likewise be worry-free about my retired life and lists. I realize now that I can do it all – just not all in the same day, week, month, or year. And there is such beauty and rest in this realization! I focus on the current project (or line on the to-do list!), whether it be a home repair/upgrade, a writing plan, a summer reading project, or an upcoming event to prepare for. And I let myself devote my time and attention to that one item alone, knowing the others will have their time and place eventually as well.

As usual, Ann Voskamp expressed it best: “All the seasons, one at a time, make a full year”… and a full life.

“ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV)

 

Message Received from a Dead Phone

(CardMapr.nl)

This morning I woke up but my phone did not. And I was absolutely terrified.

It was the craziest thing. Like always, I turned on the light, put on my glasses and then tapped the phone to bring it to life…but nothing happened – I was still looking at the black screen. I tried everything I could think of… unplugging and then plugging it back in…tried turning it off… but the screen didn’t come alive and so I couldn’t “swipe” to turn the phone off and hopefully back on.

What scared me so badly was that I felt so completely alone and out of touch. I couldn’t call for help, get directions to the Apple store to get it fixed… even have access to my passwords to enable so many necessary functions! I quickly got up and dressed in case I had accidentally called the “Emergency SOS” number in my attempts to restart my device - I didn’t want any paramedics who might arrive to see me in my pajamas! I went to take the dog out but stopped to plug my phone in using the charger cord in the living room instead of the one in my bedroom… and the phone came back on! What relief! I was suddenly as thankful as I had earlier been fearful.

Apparently it was just a fluke, as the phone is working fine now… or was it? There’s a reason the enemy attacks first thing in the morning, before I’ve had a chance to “dress myself” properly in my devotional time. I’m especially vulnerable at that time of day. Maybe God was sending a message I needed to receive.

Once I got my coffee and had calmed down, I tried to think of how I should prepare myself in the chance that it might happen again. And turning to God first thing every morning… turning my “God” on… is so much more important than turning on my phone! Funny that God was able to use a seemingly dead phone to get that message through!

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1 NKJV)

 

Unraveling Mistakes and Knitting Hearts Together

One of the things I like most about knitting is that you can take back mistakes.

You can’t do that in life. Words can’t be unspoken, deeds can’t be undone, hearts can’t be unbroken. You can live with them, learn from them… but not erase them completely.

You can do that in knitting. You can take back the stitches to the point before the mistake occurred and start again, avoiding the error you made the first time. No evidence of the first mistake remains.

I ran into one of my mistakes yesterday while shopping for yarn. He was driving a motorized cart in the same direction I was headed, to the checkout lane at the front of the store. I stared at him discreetly for a bit to make sure it was him. He had aged some (haven’t we all?), but in the end, there was no mistaking him.

I wish I could say that I went up to him and said hello. Normally I love running into people I haven’t seen for a time while I’m out and about. But the relationship ended on a bad note, with us on opposite sides of an issue that ended up dividing a church and breaking what was once a close fellowship. I was sure he no longer considered me a friend.

Truth is, he’s probably forgiven and forgotten the events that caused me to avoid him rather than approach, lost surely in significance to the bigger battles he’s faced since. He would probably have welcomed the greeting and the chance to chat.

I’m sorry now that I missed the chance to do exactly that.

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32 NIV)