My Plans Fell Apart So I Breathed Instead

Today was one of those days I had stacked precariously high with to-dos.  My kids had a half day for parent teacher conferences so I thought it would be the PERFECT time to visit a friend in MA that we haven’t seen in awhile.  Aside from rescheduling one child’s teacher conference that I wrote on the wrong calendar square, ALL I had to do to make this day work was:

1. Get my kids on the bus and write pick up notes for them
2. Take my youngest to a playdate with friends from a mom group I’m in
3. Stop and get snacks FOR playdate on the way TO playdate
4. Take my youngest to a playdate with friends from a mom group I’m in
5. Run home to change my son’s pants and eat a mini meal
6. Ask myself why my four year old is still having potty accidents
7. Retrieve the mail and wonder why the shoes I ordered are still en route in Illinois.
8. Rush back out and pick up my kids from two different schools
9. Drive an hour to MA
10. Drive an hour home in rush hour traffic
11. Lie to myself about how long it would take to get home and probably arrive veerrry late
12. Rush back out the door to a small group I’m part of through my church.

Yeah.  It was going to be a lot and I had done a lot of lying to myself about how much I could actually accomplish.

But I didn’t make it all the way through my list.  Just before I got to number 8, my friend texted and said she needed to reschedule.  The whirlwind drive was cancelled.  Then I picked my kids up from school and we settled into home and (mostly) calm playing instead of frenzied driving.  Within another hour or two, my evening plans were also cancelled.  Detours everywhere.

And even though dropped plans are disappointing, I was reminded of how nice it is to breathe.  Sometimes I buy into the lie that I can and should do everything, and that being busy somehow gives me a little more significance or worth.

But space is so precious.  For me.  For my kids.  It’s where I hear God…it’s where I stop striving…it’s where I let go of the need to be all things to all people.

Not all roads lead to peace.  God offers me the path that gives life but it turns out this stubborn girl doesn’t always choose to walk in it.

I know its the season of all the crazy things, and life won’t always do us a favor and drop our plans so we get the memo.  But my challenge to us both in this season is to say no a little more.  Stop every once in awhile to breathe.  It is often in the stillness of delays and detours that the crazy lights dim and we ironically see a little more clearly.

Happy breathing, everyone.

YOUR TURN!

(Share a time when your plans were cancelled and you found an unexpected joy in that space!  OR share your best tip for creating space during this season of stress.)