formals

Prom, Formal, Wedding Day.  Not really an equivalent, I know. But when you were going to your first prom, didn’t you feel like it could have been your wedding day?  Like the parliament of Wales should role out the red carpet for you to walk in Princess Diana’s steps because you were just as pretty…if not more? You worried for hours and hours that your dress was going to fit perfectly. That no one was going to know you were wearing spanx.  You stressed out about if the ribbon in your corsage corresponded directly with the vest of your date’s tuxedo.  Every tiny detail was thought about.  Stressed about.  I’m a planner.  My junior prom I had planned down to the minute.  What time I was getting in the shower.  What time I need to be out.  What time I needed to be leaving for the salon.  I even Map Quested how far the salon was from my house.  And inevitably, my date was late.  Late.  On the single most important day of my life.  LATE.  I used to get the hiccups before big events. Not because I was nervous. But because I needed things to go according to my schedule.  I didn’t want to show I was worried, but instead I hiccupped.  I remember trying every remedy known to man waiting on my date to pull into the driveway.  Longest ten minutes of my life.  That’s how my whole life has been.  I have a plan.  It’s detailed. It encompasses what I think everyone else’s plan should be, too.  I remember reading in a Francis Chan book about how having stress and worry is disrespectful to God, because its showing that deep down inside, we don’t trust He can handle it.  My date pulled in the driveway twelve minutes late.   Me hiccupping and worrying about it for those few minutes didn’t get me anywhere.  I was still where I was going to be if I just drank some sweet tea and kicked my feet back.  It’s hard for us to trust God sometimes because we know our plan, and we’re still figuring out His.  We get stressed and worried when we’re not trusting His perfect plan for our lives.  I hate when people take that phrase perfect plan and twist it to think that if we’re one with God that everything’s going to be like an episode of the Brady Bunch where we all roast marshmallows and sing show tunes perfectly on key with each other and all any problem needs is a little discussion with Pops.  No.  It’s going to be hard.  God’s perfect plan includes obstacles.  It’s not about the worry you put yourself through and how YOU get yourself through them.  It’s about how you discuss with your Father how you can live and trust in His will for your life. Read Matthew 6:27.