As I sat in my favorite chair this morning trying to make sense of the text I was reading, in enters my only son. Energetic and ready to take on the world in nothing but a pair of Hulk briefs, he asks me the one question that’s consumed his mind since bedtime. “Are we going to the pool today?”

I have to smile at his hopefulness of this one event rousing him out of bed so early in the day. “Yes,” I say as my voice cracks a little having not used it since the night before. “But you know the pool doesn’t open until noon.” He nods his head, satisfied that nothing changed our coarse of action for the day during the hours of his sleep.

We’ve tried so hard to teach our kids about disappointment. When plans change and turn into something they most definitely did not expect and how to handle the initial let down. Wyatt, unfortunately, has the most struggle with this. If you ever want to see a six year old boy wail just tell him the plans have changed. He has to mentally prepare for the shift in circumstance and I often try to prep him ahead of time, away from his sisters, when I know I have to change up the day he had laid out in his mind.

I relate to Wyatt more than you know. To this day, I have to give myself a pep talk when something modifies my coarse of action. I don’t mentally regroup well and my first shameful thought tends to be “Now this entire day is ruined and unproductive and I should just go back to bed and start over tomorrow!!” (Double exclamation)

Yes. I’m a “His mercies are new every day” kinda girl so let’s just get this day done and over with in order to begin again. Like Wyatt, I tend to think the new way can’t possibly be as productive or fulfilling (or in his case, fun!) as the old way. I forget that my heart is set as I plan my coarse but Someone else establishes my steps. (Prov. 16:9)

For those of us bringing up babes, I’m certain that God doesn’t just give us precious people to mold into adults for their own purposes, but for our own. We are molded fresh each day as we teach them about the very things we ourselves struggle with. He’s using my children to show me where I still lack faith, because this example bites me square on the toe more than I can count.

Today, our plans “seem” certain, but I’m up for Someone giving me a different coarse. Guiding me and lighting my way to the shores of something certain. For I’m nothing but that wisp of fog, ready to disappear at the first sign of the sun. (James 4:13-15, MSG, emphasis mine)

So as I go into the day, intending to watch my children soak up the sun (and chlorine) one week before the new school year begins, I hand over my pen and let Him do the writing. …all the while just kinda hoping the pool is written somewhere on those pages or I might have a mutiny on my hands. ?