Plan B (03/26/2025)

The flowers at the market were beautiful. As I stood looking at them, I thought of a neighbor I’d been praying for and about whom I was concerned. I decided to take a dozen roses home to her. As I neared our neighborhood, I called her husband to see if I could simply hand them off to him, not disturb them, but bring the flowers and disappear. But he didn’t pick up. So, I took them home and put them in my favorite vase. And I am enjoying their beauty. And every time I pass them, I say a prayer for the couple. It’s my plan B.

As I passed them this morning and said my prayer, it dawned on me that maybe plan B was the better plan – a reminder to me to pray. I smile and uttered my compliments to the LORD, “Clever.” The LORD works that way frequently in my life when I find myself on “the alternate route” and realizing it has purpose I’d never imagined.

In life, I know I frequently find myself traveling “the alternate route” or executing Plan B or Plan C. I could get in a snit about it because life isn’t going the way I’d planned or hoped. Truth is, in my younger years I did do the “pout” thing quite often. But the LORD seeks to teach us daily as He calls us to Him if we simply pay attention. And I’ve learned that the “alternate route” often surprises me because it’s also the “scenic route.”

Take my opening situation. It didn’t work out as I’d planned, but as I pray multiple times daily for my friend, I am also blessed with the fragrant beauty of a dozen peach colored roses. I realize that not every Plan B has such a fragrant and beautiful bonus. But is there a bonus that I’m being challenged to discover and savor?

During this season of Lent when we are called to change – to conversion – and given helpful activities to get us to change like prayer, fasting and almsgiving, are we just suffering through it and offering it up or are we seeking to discover the fragrant beauty or beautiful bonus of our change?

As the LORD calls to us, “Come back to Me,” are we noticing the gifts along the way?

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.