(This blog is the tenth in the series about “Countdowns” as I count down to Amanda’s moving out and count down to the Celebration Concert.)

Two days and we get the keys to Amanda’s apartment.  Most everything is falling into place.  Since we initially were moving her to Canton, some forty plus minutes away, our change to moving her five minutes away made for a ‘blip’ in our plans.  The blip is that the staff we were lining up to use in Canton are not the same as the ones here in Woodhaven.  Drat all the paperwork and hiring requirements!  We are still pretty much on track, but little changes sure can put bumps in the road of well-made plans.

It’s like the blip that happens when you map out a road trip.  You weren’t expecting that flat tire, were you?  That one change, that one unplanned for thing tries to upset your whole apple cart.

I have a friend who was braving a new meatloaf recipe.  The ingredients called for included a can of cream of mushroom soup.  In typical mom-haste, because moms are busy and distracted by small people, she tossed all the ingredients in the bowl.  As she tried to mix everything together into a loaf, well things weren’t really coming together.  The blip was that the mushroom soup was supposed to be poured over the meatloaf and not mixed in.

Another frequent blip people encounter is this:  Just when a husband and wife have reached their goal of having two children, the perfect house, and comfortable jobs, baby number three happens.  Talk about upsetting the ‘ole apple cart!  That happened almost two thousand years ago to a couple named Mary and Joseph.

Song number ten in the Celebration concert this Sunday is:  “A Baby Changes Everything.”  Mary discovered she was pregnant and, oops, it didn’t belong to her betrothed, Joseph.  Good thing the angels explained it all to them.

But …

I think it is significant to look at how others react to blips in their lives.  How about how each of us reacts?  That blip, or change, or alteration in well made plans can foul or fuel.  If we get all upset when little disturbances or snags in life happen then we probably won’t make much progress or distance in what we do with our lives.  When the snags happen, it’s as if someone has cried “Foul” and we stop the play in our game of life.  But if we use the small snags or blips as exercises in faith or strength and face them with determination, then we can let them act as fuel to move us to our goal!

We have a couple of great young ladies who want to be staff persons for Amanda.  They are getting all the hiring mumbo-jumbo taken care of and are not allowing the snags to stop their progress.

And that flat tire?  If you really want to reach your destination, I bet you got your tire fixed and kept driving.  So what if you were a little late.

My friend’s meatloaf ended up more like a stroganoff and was delicious!

And that baby?  We all know that Mary and Joseph carried on with the plan.  Having a baby really changed things for them because of how it all happened.  They were very brave.  But what is really a miracle, is that not only did it change things for their own personal lives, that little baby Jesus changed EVERYTHING for the people of the world!

A Baby Changes Everything.

just Laurel

(Don’t be afraid of blips!)