Oh, how I love a new year! And of course a new planner…pages all fresh and clean, ready for the exciting events of a new year to be added. I spent a great deal of New Year’s Day adding important dates, birthdays, anniversaries, and trips to my new Planner Pad. I added some of my favorite quotes on just the right pages. It was pretty much perfect!! I live by that planner. Yes, its paper, not electronic. There is just something about being able to see everything for the week, month, or year at a glance that is reassuring. And goodness knows I can’t remember anything anymore unless I write it down. I take it with me to all appointments and usually keep it in the car if I am away from the house. That’s where the problem started.
I had a doctor’s appointment, so of course I had to have my planner. I made a rest room stop and had to stand in line for “my turn” behind a lady who was coughing, sneezing and generally making me germaphobic just standing near her. I might have held my breath. Then leaving the facilities I was especially careful not to touch anything with bare hands that she might have touched. There was a nice flat area above the paper towel holder over the sink that was just the perfect place for my pristine new planner and my phone while I did a surgical scrub on my hands. Then it happened, water in the sink running full force, when as if in slow motion the planner started its swan dive into the water fall. I couldn’t stop it. As I looked on horrified it lay under the stream. Of course I grabbed it up all the while muttering under my breath “No, No, No”. All thought of germs was forgotten as I opened up the baby changing table and began planner CPR. I grabbed towels, towels, and more towels and started blotting, dabbing, and generally trying to resuscitate my injured planner. I have to say I remained composed. I didn’t even think about crying as the ink of my carefully placed appointments blurred and spread. And it was only January 3. With dozens of paper towels pressed carefully between its pages I sadly carried the wounded journal to my car.
It was a mess! If you know me very well you know I am a bit on the compulsive side. I like things neat, straight, clean, and in order. None of these words described my planner. It was rumpled, smeared, and generally out of sorts. And again, it was only January 3!!
So today after it spent the night on the floor in front of the refrigerator vent drying, I did the unthinkable. Yes, I ironed my planner–one sad wrinkled page at a time. It’s not perfect but I think I can live with it. My sweet husband keeps telling me he will order me a new one but hey, I’ve put a lot of work into this thing and it wasn’t cheap.
The moral of this story is I start 2019 with a not so pristine but usable planner and I will survive. I thought about the lessons learned as I ironed its pages this afternoon. See if you agree.
1- Sometimes we put too much importance on how things look. This life is not perfect and pages don’t always stay clean.
2- Sometimes we want to throw in the towel (or planner) when it can be salvaged with a little work.
3- God has done the same thing for me. The Father knows I have swan dived into running water when I should have stayed put
on the shelf but he scooped me up, dried me off, cleaned me up, and smoothed my ragged edges
4- Like the planner I may not look as fresh and pristine as before but I am still useful to the kingdom and He will
continue to use me as He sees fit.
Let’s face this new year with great expectations, optimistic goals, new words for the year, but when we fall in the sink trust the true Planner of all things to come to our rescue and even though it may be hot and uncomfortable, even iron our rumpled pages!
