So, the question arises, "Can you be too ready for something?" At dinner Thursday evening, we planned our day off...and discussed the upcoming confirmation Sunday, which my mother pronounced "Sunday" and asked what we were bringing for the covered dish breakfast. My husband nodded knowingly and I added "set up tables and chairs to my list of things to do on my day off" because I had clearly forgotten to get it together.
After a long morning of delicious coffee and delightful conversation with said hubby, and several hours of grocery shopping, I negotiated a trip to Talbot's with a daughter in return for set-up assistance. We spent an hour setting up tables, steaming tablecloths and laying out placemats until it dawned slowly on my foggy brain that this week is Jesus' baptism and next week is CONFIRMATION!!! We went home.
OK, that's my real life. My mom was eager and my husband had discussed confirmation in his study group--only they work two weeks--so he gets credit for foggy-brain-syndrome as well. So now I think I am prepared for something that is not happening...
I wondered if we don't do that more significantly all the time...getting ourselves set up for an event that is not yet complete in God's time. Have we decided where God will sit in our churches and what God will wear and how we will run the show and who will be in charge, and how it's gonna go? What if it's not time yet for our agenda? What if God has something totally different in mind? What if we are looking at the wrong celebration or the wrong event, focused on what WE think should be happening and not what GOD has determined is happening. Are we missing the cool stuff today because we forgot to stop and think before we started setting up for the next thing?
The good news is that we're set up, more or less, for the Confirmation breakfast. And I promise that for me, tomorrow's pause to think about our baptism is going to be an exercise in living in the present...looking at the amazing gifts all around me in this faith community that is nurturing their children one more significant week before they become adult members of the Body of Christ. BTW...Confirmation breakfast is Jan. 17 at 9:30...join us...