Sidetracked Blessings

I had a plan. When I woke up, I knew what I was going to do and I knew the general order in which I would do it. I had a plan...

But even though I am pretty good at sticking to training plans, I basically never stick to daily plans.

I went on my run in the morning. 5 minutes into the run, I rolled my ankle. It hurt at the time, but I found I could still run on it and it wasn't too bad, so I finished the next 5.5 miles *planning* on icing and elevating when I got home.

I got home and saw how badly the lawn needed mowing, and I knew it was supposed to rain all week. In other words, my overgrown lawn would turn into a jungle if I didn't mow today. Why not? I thought? I like mowing...

So I went out to mow the lawn. Which of course meant that we needed to replenish the gas and oil, since it was the first time using the mower since last fall. Then I needed to pick up all the sticks because we aren't planning on sharpening our mower's blades this year so we didn't want to ruin them on sticks...luckily I had help with all these side projects, and I was quickly on my way to mowing the lawn.

Then my neighbor saw me mowing and came over and told me she had a bunch of clothes she was getting rid of and would I like first dibs on them? Uh...YES! Absolutely, 100% YES! So I showered and went to her house to receive the hugest blessing ever, a lot of clothes that will be great for my upcoming job.

Then, late in the afternoon, I sort of began to put my original plan into action, but after such a fun and surprising day, I didn't really care to sit still, do homework, and ice my barely-sore foot.

It was such a great day, with a lot of interactions and activities that I hadn't planned for. But I am learning that the biggest blessings in life often aren't planned, and try as I may, I can't really plan things anyway.

I can't give up planning, because our lives call for that these days. But I can plan with flexibility and encounter those sidetracks with joy, searching for the beauty in the unplanned.