Being Available

"My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.'”
Luke 10:39-42

I am a serious planner and a hard-core scheduler. Always have been. I plan EVERYTHING. I plan birthday parties, Christmas celebrations, get-togethers, family outings and reunions. I plan dinners typically the evening before, I plan out my morning time with God, I plan weekends by Tuesday nights and daily household chores. I consider it pure joy to sit down on a Sunday night with a pen and pad of paper to map out the events for the upcoming week.

I'm afraid to say I still lay Chloe's clothes out every day. And she's 11.

I suppose there's other words to describe this characteristic trait. Perhaps I'm a control freak?

I believe there is good in planning and organizing. I think God is honored when we take care of lives and find a good balance between all of our daily responsibilities. But I also think there's amazing peace and freedom to be found in allowing ourselves some wiggle room in our daily routines. I think it's as equally God-honoring when we allow ourselves flexibility in our schedules to make room for God to do His work in and through us. Let's call these... life interruptions.

It occurred to me the other morning when I was "busy" with my day. I had, literally, a laundry list of things I had to get accomplished. The usual stuff... do laundry, clean floors, make beds, run 306 errands and make dinner. I believe this was the same day I had also created a "back-up list" of things I wanted to get done if I found myself with some extra time. They consisted of the following: fix the light in the laundry room, sort through old photos, clean out old, dirty tubs in my basement, clean out my dogs treat cupboard, replace the light bulb on the front porch, finish cleaning out the garage from the garage sale, return all of the tables I'd borrowed for my garage sale and send 2 thank you notes and 4 birthday cards (mind you these birthday's were still several weeks out. Don't judge me... I'm a planner!) :) I had mapped out each event and found myself quite joyous to be able to cross them off my to-do list with a permanent marker when I'd completed a task. (Oh the joy of a completed task! A planners dream come true!)

But then it occurred to me. In all of my busy-ness... in all of my hectic-ness... did I allow room for God to use me? Completely? Was I leaving room for Him to take me to the places HE had prepared for me that day? Was I yielding to God and His divine plan for me?

See - a scheduler... a planner... is a person who truly doesn't appreciate when they or their schedule is interrupted. I find it most difficult to stop doing what I had planned to do and "do" something else. For instance...

A storm's arrival after I've planned an outdoor event or party.
A sick child during a long-planned vacation.
A husband who has to work late after I've prepared a big meal... his favorite... with dessert.

Priscilla Shirer describes these interruptions in her book Life Interrupted like this... "When the yellow-brick road of our lives veers off in some unexpected direction."

I don't like being interrupted. The feelings that it stirs within me include uneasiness, frustration, irritability and resentfulness. I don't "do" interruptions well. They are disturbing to my goals and plans and I don't like the loss of control I feel.

But I wonder how much my life would change... your life would change... if we began seeing these interruptions as opportunities. If we truly changed the way we looked at these irritating disturbances and started seeing them as Divine Interventions. I wonder how seeing through this lens would change our perspective. We just might be opening ourselves up to the greatness that God has for us. Priscilla Shirer goes on to say that, "Believing that divine interruptions are a privilege not only will cause us to handle them differently but also to await them eagerly. Knowing that we have an opportunity to participate in God's purposes should cause us to sit on the edge of our seats in anticipation of divine interventions disguised as life's interruptions."

God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. And we have a choice to follow that plan and purpose or to be so wrapped up in and consumed by our own plan that we miss out on our calling completely. HIS calling.

God always has something better for us. Something far greater than we could even hope or dream for. Always.

You may have been late for that meeting, but you missed a car accident on the way that could have ended your life. A God appointed divine intervention.

You cringed when the phone rang from an unknown caller only to discover it was your best friend from college living out of state who desperately needed to hear your voice. You didn't have "time" to talk with her, but you soon discovered that she needed to hear your words of encouragement because after 20 years of marriage, her husband just told her he doesn't love her anymore and is filing for divorce. A God appointed divine intervention.

Your mother is ill. She was just diagnosed with Parkinson's and is going to require round-the-clock care for the end stages of her life. You instinctively want to offer your brothers home or your sisters home for her to stay. After all - you're busy. You have a life. You're too consumed by your own "things" to be disrupted. But after she moves in, you discover the blessing and joy of spending quality time with her every day... and consider these moments as some of the most precious times of your life. A gift. A God appointed divine intervention.

God does not exist for our comfort. He doesn't NEED us to complete His purposes, yet He still chooses us to partner with Him. As Priscilla eloquently writes in her book about a Life Interrupted, "His calling you means that He has chosen YOU above anyone else to do what He is asking. YOU are the one He singled out and pinpointed as His partner for a particular project."

There's a country song that's lyrics come to mind, "I could have missed the pain, but I'd of had to miss the dance."

In this case, the pain (at least for me) is the rescheduling. The realignment of my day. The course derailment. But the truth is that if we choose not to yield to the Father, then we could miss the thing that's intended to bring us the greatest joy.

Looking back on my journal from January 27, of this year, I find a prayer I wrote out. It says this...

"God - give me an open heart and an open mind to the things you are calling me to do for you. Prepare my heart to hear from you and prepare my feet to GO where you lead. Amen." In essence, I am asking God to change my desires to match His. I might have my plans... but God, teach me to want what you want!

Let's remember He still has the whole world in His hands... and He sees the bigger picture. We only see a small slice of the pie. Trust Him to lead. Trust Him to guide and direct. And He will do it!

Carol Kent says in her book, Becoming A Woman of Influence, "If we waited for formal teaching moments to make a difference in the lives of others, most of us would miss the opportunities to 'be Jesus' to the people we have the privilege of influencing."

When we yield to His divine interventions and surrender to His will for our lives, we give Him permission to use us in powerful ways!

Like Joyce Meyer says, "Don’t be so busy with your plan that you ignore God if He tries to change it."

Will you and I allow ourselves to be interrupted as God deems fit? Will we give up our tight grip of control so that He can use us for greater things? I pray we do! This world doesn't need Christians who are control freaks. This world needs Christians who have made their minds up to follow Christ with everything they have. And to surrender everything to Him, even their perfectly orchestrated schedules. We are telling His story... do others get to see His perfect power displayed in us?

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,



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