 Greetings!
In 1786, the Scot poet Robert Burns turned up a mouse's nest while plowing a field. He wrote a poetic apology to the mouse: "But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren't alone] In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry] An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promised joy." How often that feels true to me! I make plans, considering all sorts of details, and then find that I have to reconsider it all because of some unforeseen circumstance. I do find a big difference in how I handle those unforeseen circumstances now than in the past. Part of that difference comes from having more experience. Part of it comes from making a choice to think more about things than simply react. Of course, I don't do this perfectly by any means. I can still come close to blowing a gasket--at least it feels that way at times. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes considers all he has done and finds that it is vanity--a chasing after the wind. Sometimes it does feel like that. All my plans are for naught, especially if I make them thinking that it must happen as I engineer it. That would be vanity, a chasing after the wind. I don't believe that God throws a monkey wrench into the plans I make, but I do think that when I have to step back and reconsider the situation, I can often find a deeper sense of God's presence, and a new way to view what I consider to be an inconvenience. This happens in small situations where a plan to get a ride falls through. It happens in a much larger arena as I still work on re-thinking what my life is going to be like without my partner. Even in the midst of loss and pain, in God's presence, I can find joy. | 
