Unplanned Thanksgiving

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21

“In His heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

In India, you will be hard pressed to find a Thanksgiving holiday celebration, and even harder pressed to find turkey of any kind. Thanksgiving week is just another ordinary workweek here…after all, the holiday is an American tradition from the early settlers of the U.S.

However, just because Thanksgiving is not an official holiday here, it does not mean that this week failed to be special in my experience.

I had the newfound joy of tutoring some of our elementary school children in mathematics early in the week. For these specific girls, math is their most difficult subject, and being a Chemical Engineer by training, it is one of my favorites.  So I gave it a shot…and loved every minute of it. Seeing their faces focused, learning…then full of delight in a right answer or realizing an epiphany.

The session moved from mathematics to science to God. We discussed the sun, moon, and the earth…specifically their relationship to one another. I presented the example of how as Christ followers, Jesus is like the Sun—he is the source of light—and we are like the moon, in that we reflect His light for all the world to see. When others see us, they should see the light of Christ as our source. Furthermore, if we think for a moment that we ourselves are the source of light and goodness, it is like when the earth gets between the moon and the sun: if the world comes between us and God, we are in utter darkness, separated from the Source. We must choose to remain in the light, reflecting Christ to our world.

Well, our oldest in the younger girls’ home lit up at the end of that teaching. She gave praise with delight at how we combined academics with teaching about God. Finally, she told me, “If you become a teacher, God will bless you and bless you.” What a sweet moment that I absolutely cherish.

On Thanksgiving day, the end of the day did not go according to plan. I was supposed to be picked up from the girls’ home at a specific time to go home for the day. But my ride showed up 2 hours late. This is not a rare occurrence by Indian standards, but as an American, type A, task oriented, scheduler and planner…well, you can imagine that I don’t naturally accept such things with contentment. I chuckle as I recount the story to you because one of the sweeter days in my first month here occurred because of being so far “off-plan.” (God continues to faithfully, and tenaciously chip away at that part of me until I am fully surrendered to Him.)

In that extra time, I was requested to give another math tutoring session, in which more girls, down to 1^st grade, attended. Then I played various games with the girls for about an hour, one of mine and their favorite things to do. Lastly, as they sat down for dinner, they began the normal practice of praise songs and prayer. And since they had a “special guest” with them, I was asked to tell a story.

Being put on the spot, I paused for a second, then realized God had prepared me to talk through Gideon, since my Sunday School class just studied it in detail this summer. It is a special thing to have the full attention of over 30 children ages 3-12, without them making an unsolicited peep for 15 minutes. We had fun with it, guessing how many soldiers God chose to fight an entire army, demonstrating the different ways the soldiers drank water as God chose the few who would be at the battle, dividing into torch holders, pot crushers, and horn blowers. Finally, we flexed our muscles at the end, declaring that God has made us mighty warriors for His Kingdom, even when we are scared.

It is evenings like these that endear these girls to me with even greater magnitude, as the love God places in me for them continues to grow. And it seems to endear me to them, as well…because when I arrived the next morning, I was hit with an uncommonly large mob of girls asking me to play games, give tutoring, and tell stories! Although I was unable to join them on that day, due to other responsibilities, it made my heart glad to see their response.

Dwight Eisenhower wisely said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indespensible.”  Oh how well said.  The truth is that plans are going to change, especially as we are surrendered to God. However, the act of planning, while holding those established plans loosely, prepares the planner to make the best adaptations to the plan. The act of planning carries value outside the value of the conceived plan.

Finally, I ponder these two Proverbs in conjunction with Eisenhower’s assertion:

 

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21

“In His heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

I will continue to plan. It is who I am, who God has created me to be, and how He has gifted me.  He does use my planning nature for His purposes. But my prayer for you, and for me, is that we would learn to submit our plans to a sovereign, good, and loving God.  May we learn to do more listening to God’s voice, taking a part in establishing His plans, and less dictating to Him what our plans may be. May we come to realize the freedom, peace, and awe of a God whose purposes always prevail and who determines our steps.  And may God continue to give us some of the sweetest moments with His children when our plans fall apart. What a wonderful God who loves us!