Unexpected Detour

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt. Matthew 2:14 NIV

I’m a planner. I carefully select my events, my times, my meals, and even my accessories in effort to make my life – well, perfect. There is just one problem. Perhaps you already know it.

No matter how much we prepare, things don’t always go according to plan.

In this way, I set myself up for disappointment. For months, I envisioned the birth of my newest baby girl. The older two children would stand at the window of the nursery while she took her first bath. The grandparents, aunts, and uncles would stand behind them along with my husband who would be videoing this perfect moment. I, of course, would still be back in the recovery room holding hands in a circle with my best friends singing “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” That is how it was supposed to happen.

It didn’t.

Instead, my newborn was whisked out of the delivery room without so much as a how do you do. She spent not one day, not two days, but TEN days in the NICU. No siblings watched her bathe. No aunts and uncles stood in the background commenting on how she had my mouth and my husband’s eyes. Things did NOT go according to plan – at least not MY plan.

So, I wonder how Mary felt when Joseph shook her awake in the middle of the night and told her to get packing. The Magi, or three wise men, had just left their home after visiting the young King of Kings. Mary was just getting used to being the mother of the Savior of the world. If Jesus was God’s Son, then why were they running?

King Herod was on a rampage, killing every infant boy under a certain age. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him of Herod’s intentions and God’s plan for them to flee to Egypt. Joseph, the Bible tells us, got up, took Mary and Jesus and left in the middle of the night.

This was not a part of Mary or Joseph’s plan. But it was God’s plan.

I wonder how many times when my plans took a detour, God was protecting me. I was probably too busy complaining about my trek though the desert to realize God was sending me there for my own good. I’m thankful Mary didn’t park her heels and say, “No way. I just got this straw floor looking the way I want, and I’m not leaving.” Instead, she followed and in doing so, protected my Lord.

Dear Lord,

Sometimes the only I thing I see is Egypt. Help me to understand you often have a plan in the desert road. Thank you for Mary and Joseph, Father, for their obedient attitude helped to save Your Son. Create in me a submissive attitude. Help me not to focus so much on MY plans that I miss out on Yours. Lord, may I embrace the detours. Amen.

Visit Carol at sheep to the right!