When Things Don't Go As Planned

Oh my! We had quite a bit of drama this morning!

Last week we decorated Christmas gifts for children's mom and dad. Yes, I actually allowed not-quite-two-year-olds to use paint! :-) They just loved it and were so excited that they were allowed to do 'big kid' stuff that their big sister was doing.

The gifts turned out beautifully - each as unique as are the three children:-) One of the boys finished his work and was ready to get down to play with his cars. I had to finally forcibly remove the paint brush from the other twin - the one who we are all surprised even has the attention span to do crafts! I think he would still be painting right now if he had been allowed to!

Today my plan was for the children to color white paper "lunch" bags in which to put the gifts. I thought it would be a great because the boys love to color and sister would be able to use her new markers which I gave her for her birthday last week.

The boys, however, were quite upset. They saw those ornaments, ready to be wrapped in tissue paper and stuffed into the bags. They wanted to do more ornaments! Now that they had seen the ornaments, coloring with crayons paled in comparison to painting! They each became more and more irate as I continued to impress upon them how much FUN it would be to color the bags!

Ultimately the bags, each with about 4 grudgingly stroked crayon marks, were thrown on the floor in a fit of absolute outrage! The crayons were flung across the table and the boys were bellowing at the top of their lungs. I'm sure they were wondering how in the world I could play such a cruel joke on them -- show them the FUN project and then expect them to do something not nearly as exciting.

The thing is, if they had trusted me, the project for today would have been fun. It wasn't what they had expected or planned, but my plan would have yielded a good result - one they would have liked. But it wasn't what they had planned. They had other ideas about what would be fun.

I couldn't really get upset with them. I just gave up on MY plan and held them until they settled down. Ultimately raisins and wheat thins won them over and all was forgotten. Why wasn't I flustered or upset? Because I saw myself in them all too clearly!

So often I make a plan - with our without God's guidance and direction in advance - and then when God intervenes and changes the plan, I fight it! I don't bellow and throw things but honestly, from time to time I have felt like it. More often than I care to admit, I have questioned God and even gotten upset with Him when He changes things up in my life.

Unlike the twins, I don't "let go and let God" nearly as quickly as they "let go and let Mary" take control. So yes, I have a great deal of work to do in the area of trust AND obedience:-/

Hmmm. . . Guess this will be the last of the chronicles in 2008. I have no doubt God is not finished teaching me about Him and His love, though. I'm really looking forward to where He's going to take us all next year. Of course, the day isn't over yet!

Merry Christmas!