It would be an exaggeration to say that we had “grand plans” for our 5th anniversary. We did, however, have plans. After a morning hangout with Jim’s sister, who had stayed with us after landing at the airport the night before, we were going to head up to Jim’s parents’ house and spend the day making “Christmas in July” cookies with some cousins. We planned to stay until after dinner that evening and then head home and watch a movie after putting Hope to bed. The next day was Sunday, so we thought we’d venture down to Midtown after church and grab brunch at one of our favorite go-to restaurants from when we were dating. No, they weren’t “grand plans” by any means, but they were plans all the same.
Those plans were immediately shelved when Hope woke up on Saturday covered in puke. Our sweet girl had thrown up at some point that morning and then continued to vomit several times during the next few hours. It was not pretty, nor was it pleasant for anyone involved. Poor thing!
And with that, our plans shifted from cookie-making to “cookie-tossing.” Our “date” to Midtown turned into a trip to the pediatrician’s office. Yes, the best laid plans of mice, men, and mamas often go awry…
Yet looking back, this was exactly the type of day that we needed. Rather than our planned busyness with extended family—fun though it would have been—we ended up sitting on the couch together reading books and just relaxing. (I literally cannot remember the last time we did that.) Once Hope was up from her nap and it was clear that the medicine was working, she joined us on the couch and “read” her own books. It was the sweetest little family time… although after she had a fruit popsicle snack for “hydration purposes,” she then became the most hyper/spazzy I think I had ever seen her! Instead of cooking an elaborate dinner or going out to eat, we opted to make a dent in our leftovers supply. This freed us up to go for a walk as a family around the block—a rare treat since I am usually on dinner duty during this time slot. We held Hope’s little hands and helped her “jump” over cracks in the pavement, all the while enjoying her delighted toddler squeals. After Hope went to bed, we snuggled up and watched a movie together. And that was our 5th anniversary. No, it wasn’t fancy, and it certainly wasn’t what we had planned, but in the end, it could not have been more perfect.
The longer I live—and the longer I’m married and am a mom—the more I realize that life is often like this. We can (and arguably should plan), but we should also be flexible and willing to pivot. Sometimes the pivoting comes with a new set of challenges, yet other times it leads to an even better outcome than the one we originally intended. Not only can you end up with a sweetly memorable wedding anniversary, but you also just might encounter God in these unexpected places. The book of Exodus offers us a fantastic (or flame-tastic?) “case in point”: the story of Moses and the burning bush. According to the text, Moses was minding his own business, just living another typical day of herding his father-in-law’s sheep in the Midianite backcountry, when he “turned aside to look” at something odd just off the path… and the moment he did that, the trajectory of his life and the lives of countless Israelites changed forever. A key thing to note in this story is that, while God arranged the burning bush to get Moses’s attention, he still had to be open to that change of plans. Thanks to this small detour and this bit of flexibility, Moses found himself on a completely new path—one that would turn him into one of the most renowned leaders in the Old Testament and that would ultimately result in liberating his people from bondage in Egypt.
Now, our 5th anniversary change of plans didn’t result in the freedom of hundreds of thousands of enslaved Jews; however, it did provide an unexpected respite for our little family. There was no way we would “miss” our puking toddler as Moses could have done with the burning bush, but we could have missed the opportunity to turn that Saturday into an impromptu Sabbath. We could have easily treated it as a bonus workday and tried to get things done around the house and in the yard. But then we would have missed out on the invitation to simply be and, more importantly, to simply be together. Had we tried to keep going and pressed onward with our plans, we would have walked right past the gift of rest that God was so kindly offering to us.
In case you were wondering, we will eventually get to celebrate our anniversary with a weekend away in August, and we did get to enjoy that brunch in Midtown this past Sunday. I’m grateful that both of these opportunities worked out in the end. Yet I am also incredibly grateful for the way our actual anniversary panned out. No, it wasn’t flashy, nor was it “Instagram-worthy,” but it was perfect all the same. God knew what we needed, and in His goodness He made sure that we got it.
So here’s to another five years and beyond of growing in flexibility, learning to pivot, and being open to what God has for us each day… though hopefully it won’t involve more toddler puke!
In Plain Sight 