I had the day all planned out.
Get Emma off to her destination. Coffee with a friend. Client at the office. Take the car to the dealership for maintenance. Pick Emma up. Head home.
…
Like so many people I know these days, life is filled with agendas.
Appointments.
Deadlines and schedules.
Every moment of the day seems accounted for.
Sometimes you hit every green light and are able to check things off your list with ease. Other days ~ well…I don’t have to tell you how those go.
Stop number three ~ done.
The car had been dropped off at the appointed time. I left the keys with my service technician, and hopped the shuttle back to the office. I had a few hours and wanted to be as productive with my time as possible.
Shuttle man dropped me off near the door and we agreed on a time for his return.
I had a little over two hours to get some things off that ‘to do’ list. Phone calls, charting, and scheduling. Time for accomplishment.
…
The shuttle drove off.
Then it hit me…
Ugh!!!
My office key was on the set that I had left behind.
Now what?
Recalling past experience for counsel, my typical reaction to this type of scenario would be to jump quickly to anger. Invite frustration to join in. All the while, mumbling choice words under my breath. Basically ~ throwing an adult version of a toddler’s temper tantrum. All for not getting “my way”.
Energy spent. Nothing gained.
But, time teaches us.
We learn lessons in shifting perspectives. How to respond, rather than to react. Breathing in deeply, instead of exhaling venom.
I paused.
Unable to enter my office, I stopped to contemplate two of my encounters earlier in the day. Perhaps, there were little “God signs” there. Pointing me in a direction. Giving clarity to this sudden chaos.
I recalled the time spent with my dear friend over a cup of tea. And the exchange of ideas and thoughts between me and a client’s mother ~ a parent of a child with special needs.
Both conversations were woven with threads of gratitude and laced with thankfulness.
…
I looked around saw a picnic table. There was green space for exploring. Wildflowers. Butterflies. Birds. And a chorus of cicadas. The sky was clearing up. The mail had come and I had the backs of envelopes to write on ~ paper to record the abundant blessings around me.
No. I didn’t have my key.
I had much more.
Instead of that familiar, swirling gray cloud of emotion, I chose to submit to God’s amazing provision.
Suddenly my day, that just moments before, felt constricted and reigned-in felt beautiful and wide open!
I could breathe.
Now, I saw opportunity before me. And my heart felt peace.
This two-hour window had just been swung open to inhale the glory of the day. God’s abundant Creation was beckoning me to play. Something I hadn’t done for a very long time. Spending time relishing in the discoveries of nature.
Through a child’s eyes.
A child of God.
…
He knows me better than I know myself.
He knows what I need ~ and it wasn’t more phone calls. More screen-time. More reports.
It was this precious time to linger in His presence.
To be refreshed.
When I couldn’t figure out how to stop the hurried pace of my day, He picked me up and pulled me out to meet Him.
No keys = no work.
And I could see it this time.
The closer I walk with my Jesus, the more sensitive my heart is to the old and uncomfortable feelings of chaos. I grew up in a home that seethed it. I didn’t know how to function if I wasn’t wrapped up in mayhem. Such a part of me, that if conflict wasn’t present, I used to create it in my relationships. In my life. In a crazy way, it felt safe to me. It’s what I knew.
Until Christ revealed it to me.
The truth of my misery.
How long we can wallow in our stench. The muck of our past, rooted deeply in Adam’s sin.
But redemption always wins.
Time and time again, He calls us from the desolate, and barren places of our souls, worn by this world.
He calls us to New Life.
To quiet.
To calm.
To peace.
All found in the beauty of His way.
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Often times, we unwrap these seeds of wisdom over time.
It’s not a gift we can tear into.
Rather like the friends and loved ones at birthdays.
They are careful to untie the ribbon around the box. They gently remove the tape, leaving the creases on the paper intact. After a great deal of time and effort, the gift is finally unveiled. Painstaking as it may be to those waiting to see the contents.
So too, like autumn.
Wisdom is uncloaked gradually. As our insight broadens in the furthering of our relationship with Christ. We gather pieces of our past as we walk our journey with our Savior. With strides of patience and steps toward peace we develop wisdom.
Knowledge of true discipleship.
Subtle transitions to a deepening identity in Jesus.
Richer hues of our changing heart emerge.
…
Ten years ago, had anyone told me that I would find joy in forgetting my keys and negating my plans for the day, I would have considered them crazy.
But that’s how God works.
He turns everything upside down.
The word tells us in Matthew 20:16 ~ “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
And we find similar teachings in Matthew 5:5 ~ “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
…
The gift of wisdom led me to finding a greater purpose in the day. A day that could have been written off by all measures of this world.
Unproductive.
Wasted.
Worthless.
But, because of Christ’s relentless pursuit of my heart, and His desire for me to walk with Him, this day turned out to be something much more.
Abundant.
Fulfilling.
Content.
When I surrendered my plans, His Grace rushed in to help me to see the Truth.
Colossians 2:2-3My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love,so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding,in order that they may know the mystery of God,namely, Christ,in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
…
God speaks to us in so many ways if we are attuned to listen.
A simple concept, but much harder to practice. Wisdom means different things to different people. In my life, God is working in me to come to understanding.
Wisdom is knowing to turn to the Cross in all things, at all times.
My day didn’t go as planned.
And boy….am I ever grateful that it didn’t!
My Sweet Louise 
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