Surprise Me Lord

Wow, what a weekend.  I am writing this on the flight home from Miami where I attended a “Surprise Wedding.”  A young man, Ryan, was dating Amanda for several years.  Her dream was to be engaged and married on the same day.  What a brave and bold dream. 

Unbeknown to her, Ryan worked on planning this wedding for a year and a half.  He wanted to fulfill her dream. He planned the big day to be in Florida as a SURPRISE to her!  

I am a planner.  I wouldn’t consider myself a control freak, but rather a “responsible person” who needs to make sure all of the details are worked out.  The concept of a surprise wedding baffled me.  I wouldn’t want to leave it up to the groom to plan it all. I wondered what would happen if she said no.  There was a lot at stake for both of them.

A tropical storm in the area affected many of his specific plans.  Amanda’s flight was canceled.  Ryan worked feverishly to reschedule her flight; she arrived late Thursday night.  He quickly realized that the only thing that was important was the soon-to-be-bride being there.  Early the next morning, he let her know that today was “the day.”  He proposed, “Will you marry me today?” She said yes.  Then he had a mini-gathering for all of the guests who traveled from all over the country.  We briefly celebrated the engagement before wedding preparations began.

I personally don’t like being surprised and I’m not sure I would have liked my groom to do all of the wedding planning.  But you should have seen Amanda’s face – tears of joy coupled with unbelievable excitement! She was overflowing with gratitude.  Before she even knew everything he had planned, she said “This is perfect.”  She trusted her groom.  What a genius she was!  She did not have to fret over the details of a wedding. She literally just had to say “yes” and be the bride.

Ryan’s plans were amazing and she was totally surprised!  He planned the proposal and he figured out a way for her to pick out her own wedding dress.  He thought of EVERYTHING: guest list, invites, flowers, program, pastor, wedding party, rings, tuxes, bridesmaids’ dresses, ushers, musicians, groom's dinner, reception dinner, DJ, and honeymoon. There were about 100 people at this surprise wedding. This was not thrown together; it was a fully planned dream wedding. He wanted to please his soon-to-be-bride and he gave his best.

As I watched this unfold I was challenged!  The level of trust and love they had for each other was astounding. She accepted whatever he planned with gratitude and he trusted she would say “yes.”  It was then I saw the downside of being overly “responsible”.  Maybe I would experience more joy with a greater level of trust for the Lord.  Maybe surprises aren’t so bad.  After all, this was amazing! Ryan went above and beyond and she did not have to experience the stress of planning it…just the joy of experiencing it! 

The wedding did not turn out exactly like Ryan had planned; he faced many obstacles.  The tropical storm raged throughout the day; the streets flooded, flights delayed, guests delayed, the wedding moved indoors, and original reception area flooded.  Ryan handled every setback with class and made the necessary adjustments. Amanda was able to enjoy being the bride. The wedding turned out beautiful and they were “Mr. & Mrs.” by the end of the day.

The Bible refers to the church as the “bride of Christ.”  Maybe this is how Christianity is supposed to work - trust the groom!  Christ is planning many good things for us that we are not aware of, storms rage but His glorious return is still coming.  Perhaps our own need to plan everything cheats us out of many blessings.  We don’t need to fret and worry; we just need to say “yes” with gratitude.  This weekend, I found myself praying, “Lord, I’m sorry for not trusting You more. I am sorry for trying to plan it all.  Will you surprise me?”  It makes sense. Why fret? Why do it all in our own strength?  Let the Lord take care of the details of our lives. After all, the Bible says God does exceedingly above all we can ask or think (Eph 3:20).

I am ready for the Lord to surprise me, how about you?

Piled Up?

Everyone has it. The pile of things we need to do when we have time.  Some people have a pile of papers on their desk or a pile of household items to be sorted through.  Maybe the pile is a corner of stuff in the garage or, in some cases, maybe the whole garage has become a pile.  It’s the pile of things we know we should do when we have time.  Our days fill up and when the day becomes too full the unfinished, and less urgent, items join the pile. 

We will eventually get to the pile, when we are not busy.  But today, we are busy.

It was a Business professor who asked me if I was addicted to being busy.  I laughed, but I had to face the fact that I enjoyed being busy and I had become accustomed to it.  I returned to school as an adult; I was extremely busy with homework, work, school board and taking care of my family.  I had become used to the adrenaline rush in order to get stuff done.  But not everything was done, there was a pile. Don’t worry there was nothing urgent in the pile.

I finished school, took time off work and slowed my life down; I was able to get to the pile. I filed papers, organized rooms, reconnected with friends, read books, and took care of the non-urgent items.  I felt a sense of accomplishment and a sense of sadness when I realized a few important items were buried in the pile.  I realized it was too easy to stay busy and miss out on things that were important like relationships, mealtimes with family, and sitting around to watch a movie or play a game.  The non-urgent things were in the pile.

It’s not easy to slow down, but we must.     

If things are piling up, it’s a good indication that we might be too busy.  Maybe some important things have been buried in the pile because they were not urgent at the time: devotions, diet and exercise, relaxation, shopping, time with friends, and time with our children or spouse.  We need to take time to relax and sort through the busyness.  We need to learn to say “no” and create margin in our lives, otherwise important things might end up buried in our pile.