Unscripted

Several years ago, my lady friends and I each made a list we called "the avocado scales" (don't ask me why).  The scales were individually named after whatever guy in our lives had sparked our interest at the time.  The scales were hand-crafted with love despite gleeful protests.  "Whatever, I do not like him!" my voice elevated to a higher pitch, through the strain of a spreading grin I could no longer hide.   "What if he sees this?!"  The scales were designed to predict the trajectory of a prospective relationship.  For the sake of confidentiality I won't throw anyone else under the bus, but my scale started out something like this:

1.  Not even friends

2.  Acquaintances

3.  *Sparks*

4.  Religious discussions over coffee :-)

And on and on....

Perhaps needless to say, the scales never worked.  (Or at least mine never did - one of our friends is happily married now).  Nothing ever went exactly as scripted.  How bizarre would that be if it had?

*** 

If you know me, you know I like The Price is Right.  (Who in America doesn't, really?)  Everyone is always happy on The Price is Right.  Even losing is a win if you get on the show.  The models glamorously present prizes that contestants never knew they wanted.  The show is a throwback to simpler times.  But what really makes the show for me is the unscripted moments.  The moments where overly excited prize-winners plow over an unsuspecting host, when a pricing game goes awry, or when an older lady spins the big wheel only to be floored by its momentum.  And then there are moments like this.  (Gentlemen, this is NOT a hint, by the way.  I find this entertaining to watch in someone else’s life :-)  On the Price is Right, and in our lives, not every unexpected turn is a bad thing. 

How we react to the unscripted moments in our lives reveals what's really inside.  

When I was a kid - okay, when I was a teenager - I used to write out a script for every phone conversation before I dialed the number.  (Yeah, it was weird - but don't judge me just yet.)  As you could imagine, things got a little dicey as soon as the person on the other line broke script.  When the conversation turned, I didn't know what to do!  I would get nervous and fumble through my words.  I'd flail through the conversation and get off the phone as quickly as I could.  I was extremely shy about talking on the phone.  (Some of you find that hard to believe these days!)  Thankfully, God delivered me from the fear of public speaking (and He can do the same for you). 

Today I don't use a script to talk on the phone, but how often do I live as if life should go exactly as I planned? 

How about you?  Do you ever get frustrated when things don't work out exactly as you'd planned?  As a kid I thought life was supposed to be like Crosby, Stills and Nash's song, Our House.  I've since learned life doesn't work that way, but that's not a bad thing.  As the Good Book says, our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.  (Ephesians 3:20). 

I have two questions for you:     

            1.  Has life ever gone exactly according to your script?

            2.  Will it ever?

If you answered "no" to both of those questions, as I did, then that's good news for us both.  Life rarely, if ever, goes according to our plan, and it probably never will!  That can either be aggravating or endlessly freeing.  I find it freeing, and I hope you do, too. 

We've set up too many false, regimented expectations about how things are supposed to be.  When things don't work out exactly as we think they should, we walk away disappointed and self-condemned.  These things ought not so to be.  Half the time I think we miss what God has for us because we're looking for something so specific that He never promised.  All the while, His real promises are closer than we think.  My prayer for us today is that we let go of the scripts we've written for our own lives so that we may take hold of God’s exceedingly better plans for us.  

It's time to break script and stop worrying about future job prospects, health care, how we're going to pay for (insert here), where we're going to live, who you're going to marry (throw out "the scales," please!), fretting over the past or tomorrow.  It’s time for a paradigm shift, my friend.  Unscripted is a good thing.  What God has for us is far better than we could ask or imagine.  It's time to rip up our script and start trusting in His.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.   For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. ~ Isaiah 55:8-9.

...Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.  But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  
~1 Corinthians 2:9-10.