One Little Letter....

We were in the bathroom at O'Charley's after lunch on Sunday. I was wiggling to the crazy music that was playing. I wanted to be sure my friend knew there was some bizarre jazzy elevator music playing. She is deaf.

She started relaying an incident that happened to her at a wedding recently. The band was playing, and she looked in amazement at the person with her "What did they just say?" "Play that fu*N*ky music, white boy". We laughed, and I said "Amazing the difference one little letter makes, huh?" "Especially, if you are deaf, and trying to lip-read", she replied.

I didn't think anything else of it, until the next night, when the exact same words came out of my mouth: "Amazing the difference one little letter makes".

I had just read a post on my friend, Brea's blog about the "Ugly side of Adoption". I was saddened by this little boy's story. (And, amazed at how perfectly it fit into the first day of my latest Bible study - "Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed" - about being 'chosen' by God). I went back to the kitchen to put away groceries.

The verse that came to me, as I shelved cans of green beans and thought through this little boy's life: "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future".

As those words repeated over and over in my head, that night, one word stood out: "I". "For I know the plans I have for you...." ".... I know....", Linda, ".... I know.... ". It doesn't say "Know the plans", it doesn't say "Hey, let me tell you the plans..." it says "... I know the plans I have for you..." Humbling, really.

Being a mother has really helped me put into perspective some of this God-stuff. I can relate to the "I know the plans..." in my family. I don't have to explain to my children that I will do laundry on Mondays. I know that plan. I know how it will get done, when it will get done, that it will get done. And right now, they don't worry about it - certainly not about the details. (I'm sure I'll long for this simplicity when the "tween" years really hit!)

When I think about it now, I want to add in a "... so mind your own business, will ya'?!" at the end. And He'd be right if He did... it's NOT my business to know the plan. It's my business to trust that there IS one and that He knows it. I need to remain on a "need to know basis" only. And, when I'm given a bit of information or instruction, I need to listen and obey.

If only I could be as trusting of God as my children are of me. I really like to know the plan. My friend, Karen, used to say "that's all about control, Linda". (And, yes, she was right!). How apt that I signed "control give up" or "control surrender" about a hundred times during worship this past week.

Help me to "control surrender". Help me to trust that You know the plans... "plans to prosper [me], and not to harm [me], plans to give [me] hope and a future." And "Sam" too...

Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.