Sometimes God Lets Us In on His Plan

I'm reading through the Bible this year with the help of YouVersion.

This morning, I read about Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream that pointed to an upcoming famine in Egypt, through which, of course, Joseph became reunited with his long-estranged family.

Joseph's words to Pharaoh in Genesis 41:

God is letting Pharaoh in on what he is going to do.

Over twenty years ago, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. In June, the oncologist estimated he had 18 months to live. At the end of July, I had a dream from which I awoke crying, remembering from the dream only the idea that my dad had 4 months to live.

I could only imagine that if the dream had meaning, it was for me to help my family speed up their goodbye preparations. I only told one sister-in-law of the dream and we watched for opportunities to gently add to planning some what ifs: Yes, that's a good idea but what if his time is much shorter? What would be our plan for that?

We planned his November 24th birthday celebration for November 10th. He was sitting at the table surrounded by family, very much enjoying our company.

On November 24th, he was aware of very little, and he passed away on December 1st, nearly four months to the day.

Genesis 41 assures me that sometimes God does let us in on his plan. We can ponder this inside information and plan accordingly.

Joseph faced famine and I faced losing someone so dear to me. In both, God was gracious and loving and painstaking.

I am forever grateful.

When Mine is the Next Step to Take

For all the chase and exhaustion of young mom days, I sometimes think they are easier than being a mom to adult children and their spouses.

The wrestling match moves from outside to inside.

In those days, I was wrangling multiple pieces and parts, getting children here and there, kissing boo-boos, monitoring homework and eating and habits, wondering over and over if I was guiding in the right direction.

Today I am wrangling pieces of my own heart, going back and forth between wondering how much to reach out, step back, cheer their own way, ask for face time and visits.

Too much? Not enough?

My young mom friends must think, on occasion, Oh, to have her free time.

I think, on occasion, Oh, to have their assurance of being needed in the moment.

Such a transition to carry the wrangling from the frenzy of outside to the quiet wondering of inside.

And so my prayer:

Lord, with so much physical distance now between my children and me, show me when mine is the next step to take.

God Rarely Traffics in Shiny

We imagine our dream playing out before us.

I remember the day I thought to myself that my last name would never be different than that of my children.

Heartbreak dissolved that shiny plan.

I remember the day my teaching career merged into that of principal, with a hope of financial security in retirement.

A seemingly urgent call to enter a job wilderness interrupted that shiny hope.

And the list goes on.

Not one shiny I imagined or planned has stood the test of God's bigger plan.

And yet, out of the broken-hearted detour into one wilderness after another, I have emerged with strength, joy and a hope that whatever it is God traffics in, I will remain connected and nourished.

I am the broken one, somehow forged not in shiny, but in sure.

Sure of the One I traffic in.

When Music Says It Best: The Avett Brothers

Make me sanguine.

Cheerfully optimistic.

Kill the doubt that strangles my self-worth.

Please.

Disregard directions sent from hell.

Our anthem.

Thank you, God, for the haunting truth of music, spoken here through brothers.

(Sanguine, by The Avett Brothers.)

Even Research Says We Are Cranky

In yesterday's post, we imagined that our country is cranky because we increasingly blast each other, spend more than we take in, and long ago invited out our founding moral compass (God).

New research bears this out.

The Legatum Institute has, for six years, measured over 140 countries on a prosperity index. For the first time, the United States has fallen out of the top 10 in their annual ranking of the World's Happiest Countries.

You can explore the overall report at www.prosperity.com.

The countries are measured in eight categories, each with their own ranking. Most disturbing, perhaps, is the comment that accompanies our ranking of 12th in the Entrepreneurship and Opportunity category "due to a decline in citizens' perception that working hard gets you ahead."

A decline in our perception that working hard gets us ahead.

Does that mean an entire generation of very observant children are drawing that conclusion?

What does their adulthood look like?

Are there other countries that have the same defeatist attitude? Are they a mirror of our future?

God, we redouble yesterday's plea: please return to our country with Your radical grace and serious intent. I, for one, ask You to take over. I know others plead the same.

The US: A Nation of Cranky

Every time I feel cranky, I can trace it back to a circumstance that somehow unsettles me. I can't readily see the solution so cranky moves in.

A household can feel cranky: relationship issues, debt-laden finances and a confused spiritual compass can lead to an unsettledness and a more wobbly march to solution.

Can an entire country feel cranky? We blast each other through 24/7 print and voice media, we are spending much more than we take in, and our country's founding spiritual compass was invited out long ago.

There may be a daring solution to a cranky United States.

Over ten years ago, our tiny church in western NC asked God to move in with His agenda. We said, "We only want your solutions, your leaders, your leadership." He turned the place upside down with radical grace and serious intent.

Maybe we could say to God, "For our country, we no longer want what we want. We only want what you--God--want. Bring in your solutions, your leaders, your leadership."

What does a US look like turned upside down with God's radical grace and serious intent?

God, will You come back? Will You take over?

We need, more than ever, your radical grace and serious intent.