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Aug 31, 2024 06:00am

Change of Plans

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“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.”

Proverbs 19:21

When my husband and I were dating, I had planned a full day of excitement. I believe it was our 1st year dating anniversary or something like that. I showed up at his house on a Saturday morning and asked his parents if I could wake him up as a surprise. In my mind, I had planned the perfect day date.

Surprised might be an understatement for how my then boyfriend felt when I woke him at 8:00 A.M. smiling wide and setting down a cooler full of chocolate milk, water bottles, and IBC cream soda, a bag of cream-filled donuts from his favorite do-nut place, and a gift bag that contained a new bathing suit and sunscreen. I was giddy with anticipation to take him through this exciting day I had planned.

He opened the bag and questioned the gift. “Thank you?”

I proceeded to explain that I had a whole day planned out to celebrate our anniversary that included driving an hour and a half to Jackson, where I was going to treat him to a day at a waterpark, with a stop by the mysterious “house zoo” we always joked about that was just outside of town, on our way.

Much to my surprise, my boyfriend did not seem quite as excited as I was. He was very polite and thanked me. He grabbed a donut and a chocolate milk, thanking me again. I could tell he wasn’t sharing my joy for the plans I made for our day.

“Does that sound like a fun day or what?!” I asked, never expecting anything but sheer joy over the “perfect” plans I had made.

“Sure. It sounds like a day most would enjoy,” he said. “I just don’t really like water parks that much…but I have always wanted to know what is actually in that house zoo thing,” he said politely.

“Oh, okay. No big deal. There are plenty of other things we can do in Jackson, if you still want to go there,” I replied, confused at how someone wouldn’t enjoy a water park day.

“I really, really appreciate all of the thought and effort you put into planning the day,” he said, “and, you know, there is this awesome arcade/go cart place near that water park that would be really fun, if you don’t mind changing our plans just a little.”

I actually thought that sounded like a lot of fun, too, so we set out on our slightly altered “perfect” day that turned out way more fun than it would have otherwise. The “house zoo” was very interesting. It has been about 27 years since then, but, as far as I can recollect, I think it was mostly domesticated animals in little cages in a backyard, and maybe a couple of animals that were probably technically illegal to have as pets, as well. We pet some cats and dogs, looked in the glass at some crazy reptiles, and looked in on some wild cats (probably caught in the woods behind the house). We giggled and took pictures with each animal, like they were unique creatures we couldn’t see elsewhere.

We bought road trip snacks and shared stories all the way to Jackson. By the time we got to the arcade, I understood why water parks weren’t my boyfriend’s favorite place, and we knew just about everything you can know about a person in an hour and a half. We had discussions about God and politics and our favorite memories and just about anything else we could think of. We sang music loudly. We knew each other better by the time we reached our destination.

Once we got to the “fun park”, we laughed and drove go-karts until we were too dizzy to do any more rounds on the track. I bought passes for the arcade, and we played every arcade game at least once, ate arcade pizza for lunch, and ended our fun spending every quarter I had left on this one game that scooted the coins on repeat, pushing them so close to the edge I just KNEW they were all going to fall over and become our spoils at any moment. Somehow, those quarters managed to cling to the machine edge for an unimaginable amount of turns. We enjoyed the anticipation, as we tried “just one more time” until we finally saw some fall off. We cheered at our $2 winnings, which felt much more substantial as 8 quarters.

We drove home, feeling closer than ever, elated about the fun we had that day, swearing off ever gambling, as we saw the weakness we had in an arcade game. By the time I dropped my boyfriend off, we were simply giddy, and our teenage love grew even more deeply. I KNEW this was the man God wanted me to live the rest of my life with, and I was grateful our day was altered, allowing time to really get to know each other better.

Sometimes, we can plan out every detail, but things rarely go as planned. Over 24 years of marriage later, we have experienced more days than I can count that turned out very differently than we would have ever planned-some seemed much better, but many were much harder than we would have ever chosen-all ending up for our good and His glory. I am so grateful they didn’t go our way. God’s plans are always much better!