This from the Robert Burns poem - To A Mouse
Not the Steinbeck book - although he purportedly took the title of his book from this poem.
In the poem, the man has upturned a little mouse's leaf and twig home while plowing. Below are the last two stanzas. I copied it in the original Scots....just because I love the sound of it. If you would like a "translation", I have added a page to this blog with the whole poem in both Scots dialect and modern English.
Not the Steinbeck book - although he purportedly took the title of his book from this poem.
In the poem, the man has upturned a little mouse's leaf and twig home while plowing. Below are the last two stanzas. I copied it in the original Scots....just because I love the sound of it. If you would like a "translation", I have added a page to this blog with the whole poem in both Scots dialect and modern English.
But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
Oh how many times have you heard that famous verse..."The best laid plans of mice and men are often gone awry"? Very often I hear it....and say it....when what I perceive were very well made plans go awry....or fly off into oblivion until no vestige of them remains.
That has been my past two days...plans going awry. Simple plans really...nothing earth shaking by any definition. BUT...they were MY plans that I worked on diligently so all things would go smoothly. But.....no....
So like the man with the plow, I look back and see plans dashed on the rocks of reality...a reality often not of my making. I look forward to my future plans, and because of so many past plans destroyed, I look with insecurity and fear....surely those will probably not turn out either.
Looking back...my plans were good ones, worthy of fruition I thought. I still am unsure why some of them are ripped apart and gone forever.....hope draining out by bits and drabs with each demolition.
Two wonderful sons
A big happy family...house overflowing at holidays
My children's big events - graduation, marriage, birth of their children (in that order)
Joyful times with grandchildren....teaching them...playing with them....watching them grow up
A life filled with giving whenever and wherever my heart leads
To name a few
All good and admirable plans....dreams....hopes
All now gone for what looks for all intents and purposes to be....forever
The burning question then becomes....what about future plans? Is it even worth making any plans beyond the next five minutes? Like the poem..."An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!" It's almost as if it would be better NOT to plan anything that is important to me. Like the very act of planning assures their failure. My history would seem to back up this hypothesis.
But I'm taking all steps I can NOT to fear....either past or future events. So I turn to Abba. What does He have to say about planning....mine AND His....
Proverb 19:21 - Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Old thoughts well up. It's what I've heard so often in the past. MY plans are somehow all wrong because HIS plans prevail. My plans are all wrong just by the simple fact that I made them. But is that true? Oh I understand if my plans were to prove wicked or harmful....no problem grasping that concept. But good plans....Biblically sound plans....surely THOSE match up with Abba's plans!!
So I'm left rather adrift....To Plan or Not To Plan....that is a good question it seems. (apologies to Shakespeare) I THINK I know what the best path is at a given time. It all makes very logical sense - even to me! It doesn't transgress any of Abba's laws or even suggestions!
But awry they went.
Ok, then what is "awry"? It has a negative connotation - and surely from the planners perspective it seems negative at the time.
BUT.....
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer. 29:11) (#46)
Well....that doesn't seem very "awry"!!
So I pray and believe for a renewed mind more attuned to His so that His plans for me and mine can become one. I want to follow that path that HE has planned for me....to hear His still small voice in my ear....directing and guiding......
And all along the way...I look under every rock, every branch...around each curve....to find another of His 1000 gifts to me.
SO sad. No matter how "good", the plans we make are just junk. And just like the junk junkie sees potential in broken, damaged, "useless" things, there are SO many blessings in the broken plans.
ReplyDeleteYes, seeing your son married before getting a grandchild is a good thing to "plan", but it is totally out of our control. All we can do is raise them to know what is right and true. The rest is not "plan-able" by us, since we can't control it. But I KNOW that this particular messed-up plan in your case brought some wonderful blessings.
You wouldn't have planned Jeffrey or Jaden or other events to happen as they did, but you wouldn't want to change anything about those precious little people. God's plans often look like junk to us, but He really is the master planner and gives us such blessing in spite of seeing our own plans become junk.
We just have to trust Him, Kelly, to see the real potential in our "good" plans gone junky. Remember, He sees it before we even PLAN it!
You are a gift to me. All the time, even on crappy days. I love you.