Holding Loosely

I was reminded today of how important it is to hold all things loosely. Particularly for me today it was my plans. It was Rob's first day back to school so it felt like my first day of "real" life again too. I got up early, had plenty done before Liam got up, plus had our day planned out. Then a friend texted asking if I could watch her kids while she took her youngest son to the doctor. I wrote a few things, made an excuse of why I couldn't watch them, then deleted it all. Instead, I texted that I would be glad to have them over and help her out. 

Yes, it messed up my morning. Yes, it made our other errands we had to do today rushed and I got hungry. Yes, it was hard for me to lay aside my plans to help her. But you know what? That stuff didn't matter. My plans need to be held loosely to account for things like this. To make others and their needs more important than my own. To be tenderhearted and gracious. 

This type of thing -- serving others and caring about them more than ourselves -- should characterize the lives of Christians. We should be reminding ourselves that God is the one who gives us all things from his hand, including the things we do need to get done in the day. Instead of holding those things and our plans so closely to ourselves and believing that we are the ones in control, we need to remember that it is God who has numbered our days and given us these things to to do for his glory. 

I know I can't always do what I did this morning, and believe me, I really didn't want to in the moment. But I'm glad I did because I love my friend and I know it blessed her day. It was great then later in the day to have another friend bless me by keeping Liam so I could go to the doctor last minute and get my toe checked out. 

I hope you know this post is talking to myself, but I hope it helps you to think about how you're holding your plans in light of what God has given to you.