Interupted Plans

I had plans for Satureday morning.

Definite, specific plans.

An old joke says, “What to hear God laugh? Make plans”.

I had plans but Ginny wanted to go to a store we frequent about once every two or three months, and since she’s limited as to which days she’s free to get to this store, I put my plans on a back burner and accompanied her to this store.

I understood her reasons for wanting to go today but nevertheless I was not thrilled at the prospect of spending a gorgeous morning inside a store.

Now, for years I’ve started many mornings with a sort of prayer of dedication that goes something like this:

“Dear Lord, please help me to spend this day wisely. Help me be where I’m supposed to be, meet who I’m supposed to meet, learn what I’m supposed to learn, say what I’m supposed to say. I want to be 100 per cent at Your disposal. Help me to be Your man today”.

Neat, pious little prayer – if I meant it.

But I usually don’t.

I have my own plans and my own intentions and what I really want is for God to make them go smooth. I hate for my plans and anticipations to be interrupted by anything or anyone.

But, today instead of being where I wanted and doing what I wanted, I was in this boring store with Ginny as she examined shelves.

Ginny, whom I love with all my heart, is a comparison shopper. Drives me nuts. I hate shopping with her. In her accountant’s head she figures whether the better buy is three 18 ounce cans for $2.07 or four 10 ounce cans for $1.34!!! And, recently she’s also begun to figure in how many grams of dietary fiber fit into her equations.

Me, if it’s got a picture of a girl on the label, I put it in the cart.
And I’m sure that FDA tests prove that things with green labels have more fiber than things with red labels.

Anyhow after a grueling time of pushing the cart around the store and standing while she calculates all this stuff in her head, I gave up and said, “Honey, I’m going outside to smoke my pipe. You take all the time you need. I’ll meet you outside”.

An odd thing happened as I left the crowded store:

The owner buttonholed me.

Now I’ve had a nodding acquaintance with this man for years but we’ve never actually spoken. In fact Ginny and I have remarked on how he holds himself aloof from his customers. All business, no chit-chat. Brisk. Impersonal. Distant.

But today this man, who barely acknowledged my existence before, drew me aside out of the stream of customers.

He said, “Men our age need to watch out for our health, don’t we”.

Ding.

Something told me that this was not a casual remark.

“Yes, we do,” I said. “Has your doctor told you something to watch out for”?

Last week he had a test. Something may be wrong with his pancreas – or it may be nothing serious at all. They gave him the test Wednesday but he has to wait over this long holiday weekend to learn the lab results.

He may be dying.

We talked for a bit as customers swirled around us.

We made arrangements to meet and talk outside store hours again next week.

Could it be that God interrupted my plans for today for a reason?

Posted on Sunday 29 of May, 2005 [05:04:26]