Life Is What Happen When You're Making Other Plans - A Gift!

During my college days, I had a quote from a Salada tea bag taped to my dorm-room desk: Life is what happens when you're making other plans.  So many times in my life, that quote has proven true, including this summer.

Ah, yes, this summer.  The summer I had planned to be filled with productive mornings at home and afternoons and evenings out enjoying the season.  The summer I had thought my family and I would spend ample time swimming, hiking, visiting family and friends, while also catching up on some learning skills and getting clutter under control at home. This summer, which was going to be "one of the best ever" in my children's lives...

Has it been?  I don' know.

I do know it has been the summer during which both my son and I contracted Lyme's disease and had to suffer through the side affects of the strong medications prescribed for that... It has been the summer when a camping trip ended in one child with a fever that turned into all three battling a virus which resulted in a couple fright-filled nights of super-high temps, including one reading that hovered at about 105 degrees... Ah, yes, and the summer when swimmer's ear hit one of my children for the first time ever.

Not only that, but this summer was when our clothes dryer konked out followed by our washer, and, just when we replaced those, it was when one of our cars needed major work done...  Oh, and, then the pipes under our kitchen sink let go, requiring me to be tutored in plumbing skills and our cupboard to need a significant repair...

Yes, it's been hat summer when the children's hearts were broken by Nana being so sick that we were asked to send only Daddy down on a visit to family that we had all had planned and had been looking forward to for months. 

Indeed, this summer has not gone as planned.  It has been filled with unplanned obstacles and challenges hitting one right after the other.  It has, literally, been life happening as we've been making other plans.

But, am I complaining?  Nope.

I am actually smiling.  I am recognizing that life has been something more than all that stuff I just mentioned.  It has been what the Lord has gifted me through all "the stuff"

It has not been all sickness, brokenness, and challenge.  It has been together time, hope, opportunity, and grace. 

This summer has been rainbows chased on an evening when the children were missing Daddy, Nana, and Papa...

It has been wild things tried with new friends...

...stories snuggled up for regardless of who is not feeling well...

...triumphs shared even as night falls on another day that did not go as planned...

It has been quiet moments relished late in the day when the sun is low enough that it won't be a danger to us on our Lyme medications...

It's been silliness captured when we've actually been able to get out on a hike...

...waning hours enjoyed, with Daddy capturing two children at play as Mom and another child chat...

This summer has been waters navigated despite having to be well-covered and slathered with sunscreen...

...faith shared daily, sometimes at special events...

...obstacles climbed - and just hanging on with a smile no matter what comes along...

 
This summer has been new trails explored with children I am ever so grateful to share adventuress with...

...delight captured during free events where there's been enough shade for us to enjoy a day out...

...challenges met with friends that we treasure...

...beauty built even when one person is home sick...

...pastimes partaken in (even as Dad sneaks off to take a call where we learn our trip to see Nana and Papa will have to be postponed)...

This summer has been paths ridden together - literal and figurative, with some trepidation at times, but many smiles, too...

...traditions savored as a treat...

...time spent together outdoors when energy allows...

Indeed, this summer has been pausing for a weekend, a day, an afternoon, a moment... to give thanks to God for the beauty interwoven in the busyness of life... It has been time to recognize the miraculous among the mundane... to relish the glorious between the will-we-ever-get-through-this moments.

This summer has been a repeated choice to stop persevering on what is wrong and to focus on what is right, good, and beautiful instead.  It has been life - planned and unplanned - and oh such a gift!

Life - ALWAYS a gift, regardless of how that gift comes wrapped or how it is received. 
For, I admit, I am not always a gracious and grateful as I unwrap the gift of each day.  In fact, at times, I twist my face in displeasure, spit out ugly words, or stomp and slam like a petulant child.  Yes, I am not proud to say that I grump about life at times. 

Yet, when it all comes down to it - when I pause, look, listen, and, then, act and react, I realize just how very blessed I am.  How good our Lord is to gift me as He does each and every day - with another moment to become a better version of myself than I was the moment before, another opportunity to get it right with gratitude this time, another chance to share all that life is- the planned and unplanned - with the folks He has so graciously placed around me.

Life.  It is what it is.  A gift from our Lord.  Perhaps belatedly this summer, I say thank you for it.