And how I seem to be getting none of it. And the sleep that I AM getting is in fits and starts, all due to a smaller version of me. Sam has decided that his nap is going to be from 8 to 12 in the evening, after which he really just wants to scream. For the past few nights, he's been in bed with us. Let me tell you, it doesn't matter what size your 2 year old is, he'll kick like a Brazilian soccer player.
I wanted sleep. He ruined my plans. My expectations were that I would go to bed, sleep for a good 7 hours, and wake up, refreshed, sun shining, birds singing, Courtney, in a sun dress, bringing me coffee cake, singing selections from The Sound of Music.
Okay, maybe not THAT far. But coffee cake sounds good.
It started me thinking about what I could've had. The things that I thought I was entitled to. I'm 34, I think I'm entitled to a little sleep. THEN I started wondering how shackling that thinking can be. Thinking about things that should've been, or could've been, if only things were a little different. Hopefully some of you know what I'm talking about; the women especially, if you're anything like Courtney, if you have a plan laid out for the day, heaven help the monkey that throws the wrench. At the end of the day, do you find yourself in a rotten mood because things didn't work out the way you had hoped or planned? Do you go back over your day, and think of all the times that it didn't work out, and you feel like you've wasted the day? Do you take that inventory of "unfinished business" and let that define your day? Did your plans not work out?
I have a question, then. Do they ever?
Does anything ever REALLY work out the way you had it planned in your head? I've heard people say, "Wow, that worked out better than I had hoped!" or "Man, that wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be." I have yet to hear people say, "That's exactly how I pictured it working out. Down to the last detail." It's either better, or worse, which tells me that we shouldn't hold our expectations that we have in our heads to such a high standard. The paradigm we picture cannot be chiseled out of marble.
Our plans need to be made out of Play-Doh.
So this morning? Let go of your plans. Let go of your expectations.Proverbs tells us that worry weighs a man down. Placing so high an importance on the plan restricts you from the flexibility of the Holy Spirit. Observe the plan as it fails. Make lemonade. See the beauty of the present moment instead of stressing about what did or didn't happen in the past. Step back from the plan and see the day from a bigger, wider perspective.
You just might see that you, despite the tool tossing primates, accomplished more than you thought. :)
good stuff.
ReplyDelete