Sometimes I get so focused on one thing that I completely miss the obvious other thing that's right in front of me. When I finally come 'round, it's hard to understand what I could have been thinking.
The whole blog is titled, "...while making other plans." I know: When I came up with that, I was thinking about vocation-- more specifically, I was thinking about career. In fact, much of the time, I'm still thinking about career.
Except for last night. Last night, I was thinking about turning 41. (Happy Birthday, me.) In the middle of these thinkings, it jumped into my mind how grateful I am for my family and how my "other plans" would have kept me from knowing them at all.
I am crazy about my family. My wife astonishes me time and again with her creativity, her
thoughtfulness to our neighbors, her kindness in our community, and her
work ethic that bears so much fruit. And my two kids light me up. Like the prototypical proud papa, I'll talk about them any chance I get; and be careful if you ever ask me to show you a picture-- I'll probably show you an album!
But here's the thing: If my other plans had gone ahead, I would have headed off to the Peace Corps rather than marrying K. It got me to thinking how often my plans have gone awry, and how grateful I am that they have. I met my wife when I was planning to leave the country; my world is immeasurably richer with K in it than I could have ever planned. It's hard to top that, but there are smaller examples I see as well. Our church community has been a gift, but joining it came out of the blue and worried me at the time. Even our daughters' pre-school has been a surprise-- it's not where we would have planned for them to go, but we have been so grateful for the community of parents and teachers we've come to know that we can't think of any place we'd rather be.
A lot has happened while I was making other plans. I'm grateful for it.
