Change of Plans

  • By Trish Berg
  • November 30, 2011
  • 258
                        
Struggling with loads of laundry, clutter in the kitchen and chaos in your life? Stress can easily steal our joy. Trish Berg reminds us to simplify the small stuff and find Joy in the Journey. I have always dreamed big. Big plans. Big life. Big, busy schedule to keep me moving from sun up until sun down. I tend to take on much more than I can accomplish in any given day, and then stress about not getting it all done on time. If you are a mom, you know what I mean. But, big plans and even big dreams are sometimes side-tracked when life gets in the way. That is when you need to come up with a change of plans. Today is a change-of-plans sort of day at my house. I am sitting here on the couch writing to all of you when I should be at my office working on the ten million tasks that are weighing me down at the moment. But, well, Riley got sick over the weekend, and what was a cough has now turned into pneumonia, and so I have canceled my last two days to be home with her as she recovers and the antibiotics take effect. That’s motherhood. If you are a mom, you know what I mean. I try not to get bitter about the change of plans, because there is nothing I can do about it anyway. I try to get on board with my change-of-plans and to embrace the life God has placed in front of me for the time being. But there is always something inside of me that yearns to check off my to-do list. It’s as if completing my to-do list makes the day more meaningful. As if at the end of the day, I can look over my list and feel that I accomplished what I set out to do. And each and every mental check-mark makes me feel positive and strong. So today I am weak. I am sitting here on the couch with a warm blanket over my cold feet trying not to think of everything that I am not accomplishing today. I am trying to focus on what I am accomplishing. I have washed, dried and folded three loads of laundry. Check. I have made waffles for Riley for breakfast. Check. I am writing my column. Check. That’s really about it. I have a lot more on my revised to-do list, like vacuuming the carpets, washing the dishes and paying the bills. Oh those ever present bills that loom overhead like a dark cloud in the sky waiting to drop rain on me. (Did I ever mention bill paying is my least favorite task?) Carla, my dear friend, once faced a big change-of-plans holiday, and I think of her story every time I am in plan-changing mode. It was years ago, and her kiddos were all in elementary school. She had two children with Chicken Pox and had to cancel their Thanksgiving travel plans to go to grandma’s. As we chatted on the phone, she simply said, “You know, I thought about making a turkey, but my kids don’t want me in the kitchen, they just want me.” I try to live that out in my change-of-plan moments. Today, my great big dreams have come down to sitting on the couch, snuggling with Riley and watching a Christmas movie as the time ticks away on my forgotten to-do list. Guess that’s where I need to be. Change of plans. Take care of Riley. Check. Nothing else really matters. My big, busy schedule will wait until tomorrow, and I am sure my to-do list will be there, too. Check.


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