The best laid plans of mice and men......

I like to do lists, plans and being punctual. I have to admit that normally I don’t commit my diary to God each week, but this time last week as I looked at what I was doing this week I had to say “Lord, you are the only person who can make that work and get me through it!”.

Added into our normal family diary for the week was Molly starting two weeks of mock GCSEs, there were two evening performances of the EBS school Christmas production, three nativity plays, my speaking at the Alpha Course at St Bs on Tuesday night and then Steve informed me he was out every night apart from Wednesday, the night we were watching the school production.

Team Dryden, not wanting to be beaten by this, sat down on Sunday night and meticulously planned every move, each of us knowing where, when and how this was all going to happen – car pick up and drop offs, meals planned etc. Feeling a great sense of achievement we launched into the week, the spanner in the works turned up Monday evening.

Molly got flu, had a really high temperature all through Monday night, therefore she got no sleep and I got no sleep. Heavily drugged up she was shipped off to school to complete her art exam Tuesday morning. Heavily drugged up she performed in the Tuesday school production. Heavily drugged up she went in for her next exam. Heavily drugged up she performed in the Wednesday school production. Thursday we gave up, heavily drugged up she stayed in bed. I took the approach that the exams were mocks and not the real thing therefore she could miss one! (I had had enough by then and cancelled my day too and stayed home with her).

The great bard Robert Burns said "The best-laid plans of mice and men, often go awry" and how true that is. Who are we to presume that we can plan each day perfectly for ourselves, when we live in a world that is so damaged and broken, so full of illness, sadness and unpredictability. We survived this week, exhausted but joyous. I am so thankful that I did think, at the beginning, to commit our week to God. He was gracious and saw us through it – it didn’t look one little bit like we had planned – in fact looking back now it looked sooooo much better!

Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

Proverbs 16:3 (New Living Translation)

because...............

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans, but God's purpose prevails.
Proverbs 19:21 (The Message)

and..................

But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.
Psalm 33:11 (New Living Translation)

May God bless all your plans for the coming festive season x x x x x x x