Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. (Mark 9:8)

Oh darn, that really messes up my plans. I don’t really have the time for this. I have a whole list of things to do, things that have to get done. A sick friend calls for help, someone close to us dies unexpectedly, or we get sick or incapacitated for a period of time.

How many of us look on these unplanned incidents as a disturbance in our perfectly ordered lives and how many of us perfectly ordered our lives around God? Maybe this unplanned thing is God’s way of bestowing a little grace in our lives? Maybe he wants to interupt that perfect order with His own perfect order.

Maybe when these unplanned disturbances happen it is time for us to step back in prayer and embrace the moment. Jesus did for us.

God is preparing us for something wonderful and this unplanned interuption in our lives, in our plans is His vehicle to get us to change course.

Question: When something unplanned comes up in my life how do you handle it? Do I grouse and complain and try to figure out how to reestablish the status quo or do I look on it as an opportunity to take a second look at my life and let God into it?

What can I do this Lent to become closer to God and more accepting of the unplanned events in my life?

Dear Lord Jesus, As I travel this Lenten journey with you, help me to see everything in my life, both planned and unplanned, as an opportunity for You to shower me with Your love and grace. Thank you for all the gifts you have given me, both planned an unplanned and help me to use them to Your greater glory. This I pray through Your most awesome and blessed son, Jesus, and His blessed mother Mary. Amen