We can't always see the road ahead

It was going to be a busy morning. I had to walk the dogs, come back home to shower, get changed and breakfast, go and do the food shop, come back home and unload it all and then go back out to be at my weekly house group and all by 10am. I had mentally allowed myself an hour for the walk, an hour for the shop and another hour for getting myself ready and the travelling in between. leaving a little time to spare. My plans, my targets, I can do it all in my own strength! As often happens though, my plans were slightly thwarted and I was a bit late setting off to walk the dogs and they, of course, then contrived to sniff and scratch every blade of grass they passed so making our regular walk a good ten minutes longer than usual. By the time I had got them home, jumped in the shower and had breakfast, I had already used up most of the leeway time I had allowed. As I set off to do the shopping later than anticipated, I realised I was going to hit the school traffic on the usual route and was likely to be stuck in a traffic jam at a notorious bottle neck where traffic lights, crossings and roundabout converge so decided on the slightly longer option of going via the by-pass. I should not have bothered. As soon as I joined that road the traffic slowed and a long queue snaked ahead. It wasn't static but it wasn't moving very quickly either.

I began to mentally moan and complain to God. Why was everything conspiring against me this morning? And why was it that whenever I was in a queue of traffic the vehicle in front of me was so huge I couldn't see round it to be able to judge when we were able to move, or how far, until they started to roll? The clock was ticking and I thought I might have to miss the shopping this morning and do it later. My plans were all messed up!

Then it came to me. Life is just like this, we can't always see the way ahead and just have to wait and be patient. We don't know what God has planned for us, we just have to follow the road ahead and trust Him to get us to the other end. We do not, and may never, know what causes these holds up on our journey but it is all in God's will for our lives. Perhaps there has been an accident on the road ahead that, if I had been going at the proper speed and been a minute sooner, I might have been involved in. Perhaps God was just teaching me not to make my own plans rather than relying on His. Or perhaps He just wanted me to stop and admire the little jewels of roadside flowers, the rolling hills and simply enjoy His creation.

As I thought all this my mind calmed and I stopped stressing. Needless to say, the traffic suddenly started moving giving no sign as to why it had ever stopped, I did my shopping in record time and made the house group meeting spot on time. God is very good sometimes!