What Are the Plans?

Great Uncle Bulgie, someone whom we knew in early childhood, loomed large at family gatherings. He would bend over us when we were quite small, with all of his hale heartiness and bellow out a hello, or reach down to rumple young heads and send us running to the nearest parent. I suppose his name pretty much sums up the situation, a very bulgie man greeting very small children. My Mother recalls that he always arrived at family dinners rubbing his hands together (gleefully?) and asking "What are the plans Ruth, what are the plans?" My Grandmother, a gentle person by contrast, filled in Great Uncle Bulgie as best she could.



The plans, what are the plans.



Of all the questions we are inclined to ask, that one is perhaps the most unanswerable unless it refers to the starting time of Thanksgiving dinner. And even then, well, you just don't know as Mom used to say. There are human plans and then there are God's plans, and I still haven't figured out how to live with both sets. It's hard to function day to day without making some plans , but if there is not a willingness to set aside those plans from time to time then we risk side- lining God. The ideal might be to include God neatly in each day, at adoration say, or during the recitation of prayers, but that never accounts for the interruptions of children needing last minute supplies for a Lit. project, or a piano student who falls apart during a lesson because he didn't practice, or my recent favorite, the student who is sick all over the living room carpet. The schedule is suddenly backed up and before you know it, it's time for dinner and there is no food on the table.



Those are minor interruptions as derailed plans go. The trees falling on the patio during a storm, the loss of power, a leak in the shower pan, and what is typical in our area, cracks in the foundation which heave up the flooring in the living room, those are more time- consuming interruptions.



We hardly have a day that goes as planned I often think, and it does cross my mind that making plans in the first place is fool-hardy. But groceries have to be gotten and meals prepared, and the house tidied, and it's not wise to do all that on the fly. And then there is the time needed for God. I have had to miss Adoration more often than I would like to acknowledge .



It may be that all we are asked to do is to direct each day to our merciful Lord who will guide us in peace. If we make plans , as we all must to some extent, perhaps it is our attitude to the interruptions which counts most in God's eyes. And, there I suppose, is the rub. Some of us are better at handling interruptions than others. We can tell ourselves that a sick child is not an interruption, or we can acknowledge that it is, and then be gracious and accept it, and maybe also hug the poor child.



It is part of my Lent walk to handle my days with more peace of mind, but like the disciples, I sometimes just want to get away from it all. When I was young I had a pink house on the river which I would threaten to escape to. Now I imagine a spa somewhere far away.

My plans for today, insofar as I have any, include asking God for the grace to handle whatever comes my way. Since I will have thirty young children at a choir rehearsal, I will need a large dose of spiritual gifts.

I am learning to pray for the heart of Mary as I live out each day. During the days of Jesus' public ministry, Mary must have needed to offer up every minute of every day in prayer. By comparison my life is placid enough.

Pray for me as I will pray for you , and for us all the heart of Mary, large enough to encompass with love and gratitude whatever plans God has in mind for us.