Stop Looking at the Planters and Let God Drive!

Our parish has "Coffee with Jesus" once a month, which is when we get together at a local restaurant early on a Wednesday morning to discuss Scripture, but they amp it up during Advent and Lent and we get to go every Wednesday, if we so choose.

We so chose this morning, and today we discussed the Gospel wherein Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We talked about how we try buck off His yoke, believing how much better things would be if we just got to do what we wanted.

Hubby said that it reminded him of when we were in Washington, DC, with the girls.

I thought to myself, "Huh?"

He continued, and his brilliance, once again, astounded me.

As we hustled the girls through the city, we had a goal in mind. We were heading to this or that museum in the Smithsonian, and what was there was going to be GREAT for them, but they didn't really know what we'd see when we got there. (Really, discussing it and letting them choose and browse the Smithsonian site would not have helped much; it would only serve to overwhelm them!) Because they had no idea what was in store for them, they kept stopping to look at things that were certainly interesting to five and eight year olds everywhere, but not as good as the stuff that lay ahead! So, when they stopped to look at the huge potted plants (Hubby mentioned that they are probably baracades erected since 9-11), we hurriedly said, "Yeah, that's nice. Let's GO already!" The girls whined along the way, to be sure, and they complained that we went too fast sometimes, but when we got into the Museums...BOY, did they like what was waiting for them!

When they wrote stories about our trips into DC, not once did they mention that they saw large potted plants. But they did mention that we saw real dinosaur bones, stuffed animal bodies, planetarium shows, and IMAX movies.

We are exactly like that with God. We are reluctant to hand over control of our lives - all of our lives, not just what we WANT to give Him - because we are so fascinated with the potted plants that are right here in front of us. Meanwhile, He has bigger and better plans for us. God's got the tickets for the 3-D IMAX movie, He's waiting to take us to see the dinosaur bones, and He knows that, as fascinating as those big plants on the sidewalk are, we have no idea how really COOL the stuff is that we're going to see!

Father Levis, when I saw him speak at the IHM Conference, said that we need to stop trying to drive our own little red truck and just let Jesus drive. He's got the right directions, you know.

And the plants are not as good as the real museums.

[planter image credit]