Can you ever be prepared?

After spending a week in KC followed by a week in the mountains of Colorado, I have some thoughts. I spent so much time "preparing" for our trips the past couple of weeks. I sat down and thought about what I would need to pack, what I'd pack it in, how we'd arrange it in the trunk (we have a small car, you see), and so many other things that made me feel better about how the trip was gonna go. I even made lists, and I followed them while I was packing ...to the letter.  I was PREPARED!

Then, I got home, and started looking at pictures from the tornadoes that ravaged Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. Surely these people had a plan. They knew where they were going to go if there was a tornado. They all "knew" what they were going to take with them to their designated "safe area." If there was a tornado, they would be fine because they were "prepared," right?

WRONG!

There are so many things in life that we cannot prepare for, no matter how much we try and think we are. I sure thought I was ready for our trip, but I failed to plan for the kids not liking our snacks that we packed. I didn't have enough drinks for the kids. I was not prepared for the kids to wake up randomly in the middle of the night during our drive because their necks were hurting. What was I supposed to do about that?

When I made my packing list for Kansas City, I failed to plan for cold weather. I mean, it's Kansas City in the middle of May. It should be warm and muggy, right? Again...WRONG! It rained and was chillly the whole time we were there. I had to change my packing list as I looked at the weather for our trip. Then, because the kids only have XX amount of warm clothes, I had to do laundry on the trip...definitely not something I was prepared for. Laundry for 5 is a whole different ball game than for a smaller number. Especially when you're doing it for 3 small humans. Keeping track of all their socks is, by itself, enough to cause an anyuerism.

Colorado was a different story too. While I didn't expect it to be WARM by any means, I didn't expect, nor did I PLAN, for it to SNOW! SERIOUSLY, IT SNOWED! Like, three, maybe four, of the 6 days we were there, it snowed.

Then, after I started looking at pictures of the devestation across the midwest and realized, these people planned too. What good did it do them? Absolutely none.  Well, I guess that's not entirely true. Some of them are alive, but for what? They have no home, no job, no vehicle. A lot of these people are older, retired. They spent their whole lives planning for the "golden years" to have it destroyed by a 45 second long
tornado. All that time planning, out the window, quite literally.

It got me thinking, what good are our plans? Why bother? What are we planning for? If you know me, you know I am a planner. I make lists, and I follow them. I even make lists about the lists I'm going to make. I organize my shopping list by store, department and aisle. I kid you know, AISLE!

With that being said, I think, no I KNOW, that I am going to try my hardest to stop with so much planning.  My plans don't really matter. They almost always lead to frustration and irritation on my part.

I am reminded of this verse from Jeremiah 29:11 " 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." Why should I be worried about whether my plans are going to work out when the One who created everything from absolutely nothing says to me that He knows His plans for me?

This is not to say that we shouldn't save for retirement or a rainy day, and that we should go through life with aboslutely no sort of planning or preparation whatsoever. But maybe, just maybe, when things don't go the way we expect them to, we shouldn't let our panties get into quite such a big wad. Maybe those "plans" that we had didn't match up to the plans that He has for us.

We need to try harder to remember this. I need to try harder to remember this when things don't go the way I think they should have. It's not really my plan that matters.  Not even a tiny bit.