The Best Laid Plans

All we wanted was a place where we could quietly do our devotions. The first day of the retreat had been glorious. Kim and I had hiked (yes, I really hiked) on some of the trails around the beautiful Glen Eyrie campus in Colorado Springs. We had some wonderful fellowship with some of the others attending the Innovo Retreat. And we were enjoying a rare chance to re-connect with each other. But during this stretch of the afternoon, we pursued some quiet time with a determined purpose.

The area around the Prayer Garden was filled with people. While it was largely overcast, there was enough sun poking through from time to time that we were looking for a shaded area. Then we found it. On the corner of the patio at the castle. It was completely empty. No one was nearby, so we picked out a choice spot which was well shaded. We could see all over the lush grounds. Blooming flowers. Green meadows. And of course, the mountains!

We unpacked our Bibles and our books. Kim got all of her colored pencils out, lined them up and was fully prepared to highlight to her heart’s content. It was glorious.

And then they came. Three college-aged girls, talking and laughing and making more noise than three people should. But I wasn’t worried. It was a large patio. They could see we were trying to read. Even if they stayed on the patio, surely they would make their way to the other side.

How foolish of me. They plopped down just a few tables away. And they continued to talk and laugh as though they were the only ones there. I looked at Kim. She looked at me. The best laid plans. After a few minutes, it was obvious they were there to stay. And with the noise they made, I couldn’t concentrate. So we moved to another location.

It was much quieter, with just one young man at a table nearby, and he was reading too. But it wasn’t very scenic. It was inside the courtyard. There wasn’t much to look at (especially for Kim, who only had me). And our view was further compromised because we were sitting in a little alcove, which made it kind of stuffy.

I wasn’t thinking very charitable thoughts at that moment. About the time we got settled, we heard a loud clap of thunder. It suddenly got very dark, and within a few seconds, it was pouring down rain. But it didn’t matter, because we were sitting in this protected alcove. We didn’t get a drop on us.

And then it dawned on me. If we had stayed where we were, we would have been drenched. There wasn’t time between the first clap of thunder and the first drop of rain to have gone anywhere. God used those giggling, loud-talking girls to move us to someplace where we were dry and protected.

How much like life is that? God sometimes has to inconvenience us to get us where He wants us to be? We get irritated, frustrated, even angry at Him when our plans go awry. Why can’t I just sit here and enjoy my book?, we ask. But because He knows when the skies are going to open and the rain is going to fall, He may want to move us someplace where we won’t get wet.

Or sometimes, in His sovereignty and wisdom, He may leave us on the patio to get soaked. But even then, as Christians we know we’re getting soaked for a reason.