When Our Day Doesn't Go According to Plan

Remember my big plans yesterday to declutter?  Two words.  Didn't happen.  As soon as I hit "Publish" I got a phone call.  Someone I know has been through some really hard hard physical problems these last few months.  Recently she almost died, about 2 months ago, and was hospitalized.  Had surgeries, came home, almost died again.  I was out running errands one Friday when the ambulance had to come get her.  She is not married, has no children, no family.  Well, now that she is healing she can't drive and is in so much pain all the time.  She called and asked if I would be able to take her some important places.  I knew I needed to but was still a little disappointed about my list I had planned.  All my plans for the day started to melt and fall away in my head.  However, I know what it feels like to live alone, be sick, and have nobody there for you.  I told her to give me 20 minutes and I'd head out.  It took the entire day and when we got back I had just enough time to get everyone ready for church and leave.


I know some people that would use people at every chance they get and frequently expect people to be able to drop their plans for them whenever they call.  I've often had favors asked of me because I'm a homemaker and they just figure I have all this extra time on my hands.  That maybe I'm just sitting around reading a book all day and don't know what to do with my time.  That's not Belinda (fake name).  She's a very, very independent woman who's always taken care of herself.  She put herself through college, got her bachelors, and was debt free by the time she picked up her diploma.  She had a really good career for years till she was injured.  It's not easy for people that have always depended on themselves to survive and take care of basic needs and then one day have to lay in bed with medical people all around having to help them.  When someone like THAT calls and says, "I need you", I know they really, really, really do.

I grabbed my book, my cell phone, and resigned to the fact that our days don't always go according to our own plans.  Taking her to all these places she really needed to go was long but it was hard to watch her just wincing to try and get in and out of the car.  After the last errand done, she cried.  She cried at her situation.  Cried she couldn't drive herself.  Cried that she had to have a team of nurses just to take care of her.  At the end of the day, you bet a thing like decluttering just wasn't nearly so important.  Yesterday was meant for Belinda.

Literally, my days have been so busy that I'm having to write everything into a calendar to keep up.  My doctor probably thinks I'm the worst pregnant patient ever because I forget things, forget my prenatals, forget to return their calls.  I'm not sure if juggling a large family is something I'm very good at.  There are probably a million women that can do it a thousand times better than me.  I do love being busy, hate laziness, and love being surrounded by all these little ones.  I can't imagine living life completely and totally alone with not one family member to stop by and say hi.  Sometimes it does us good to realize that like Job in the bible, it can all be taken away in a flash.  Our home, loved ones, a steady job.  Did you hear about the lady her lost her parents, 3 kids, and her house on Christmas morning in a fire?  They were all she had and she lost it in a fire.  

Fire at Conn. home kills ad exec's 3 kids, parents

Yeah, reading that kind puts it all into perspective.  It is better to love people and use things rather than love things and use people.  My plans can wait another day.