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Life is not a plan, but rather, an unfolding story with plot twists and turns, which if one survives, provides the potential and climate for a happy ending.
There you go. That’s the truth.
This week I saw this personified when my business partner, Janet, took off to get her hair done. You may remember, several days ago that I told you she was in the market for a perm. She did her homework, found a good place to go, procured her finance and set aside adequate time for the excursion.
Of course, “the greatest laid plans of mice and men” go kerplunk, kerplop. That would also include the well-thought-out concepts of women looking for a good hair-do. For as it turns out, she was well into the process of getting her hair curled when the young lady who was performing the job realized that it wasn’t going to work and began to make a myriad of excuses about the reason that this mission had become impossible. In the process, bits of Janet’s hair decided to leave its moorings, which required that there be a trimming, which was not part of the plan.
When she returned, I was astounded at how calm she was–at peace and really, overjoyed. Her assessment of the whole event was that the perm gave her just enough curl to make her hair full-bodied, she received a nice dispelling of her split ends and the whole thing didn’t cost very much–because of course, they did not charge her for the privilege of being part of the disaster.
She abandoned her plan, entered the story, survived the details and got a happy ending.
Traditionally we tell people to count to ten whenever they are confronted with a surprise difficulty in order to curb their temper or fear. But I have to tell you–it may be necessary on many occasions to count to eleven.
The art of success is determined through the craft of survival. Here are five things you should consider whenever confronted with the disintegration of a scheme:
1. Look for a clue. Remember–God has no desire to make you look stupid. So often, buried in the midst of a crumbling fortress is a sweet little sign of a means of escape.
2. Open the door. It is no time to get picky, when the world is falling down around you. When you find a door that appears to be a solution, use it instead of over-thinking it.
3. Consider the mix. Remember, all things work TOGETHER to the good. So don’t isolate off one particular dramatic part of your dilemma and focus on it. Set everything down in front of you and evaluate it as a mix instead of individual punches in the face.
4. A time to wait. Human beings were never designed to be patient. Yet sometimes it is necessary for us to delay our expectations. When we know we’re going to have to wait in the airport, we take a book. It is a good idea to have other things to do while you’re waiting for your present situation to improve.
5. And finally, ask yourself where you’ve been. We do not lose our history as we live out our present. Everything we’ve learned, everything we know, everything we believe and everything we possess is of value to us at all times if we don’t act like we just got hatched from a nearby egg.
There you go.
Of course, all those may be difficult to remember in the midst of a crisis, so let me put it in a simpler form:
One, two, look for a clue
Three four, open the door
Five, six, consider the mix
Seven, eight, a time to wait
Nine, ten, where you been?
And finally, eleven: on earth as it is in heaven.
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