It’s Not the New Year I Expected

 I realize that it’s only the fourth day of the New Year, but it’s already been a whirlwind that I was not expecting. These past four days have come with some unexpected costs and some unexpected losses all of which were not on my radar for 2014.

New Year’s Day I was in the kitchen prepping my ham and black-eyed pea stew when I turned on the faucet and it cracked and began to leak down into the cabinet.  Neither my coach nor I were happy about it but we stopped what we were doing and headed out to buy a new faucet. I picked out a one that I liked but wouldn’t break the bank and headed home. T-minus 3 hours till eight people were headed to our house for dinner and football.  My coach quickly got to work on switching out the faucet only to discover that someone had welded the faucet to the sink.  Who does that sort of thing?  OK – we are now T-minus 2 hours and my coach is off to buy a new sink.  I quickly call Chris, the handyman, and beg him to come over on New Year’s Day and install my new sink and faucet.  I’ve now got the handyman coming in the front door and my coach coming in the back door with my new sink.  My coach is fabulous!  He picked out a sink that I love! 

So here we go.  T-minus 1 hour and the work begins.  Poor Chris the handyman is quickly learning that nothing is easy at our house.  What should take an hour or so was taking much longer. Friends are coming in the door to watch football and eat black-eyed peas.  They are also getting to meet Chris who is lying in the middle of the kitchen floor underneath the sink. We begin telling him the score of the game and asking if he too would like some black-eyed peas.  I’m so grateful it was our close friends who could roll with the flow of the night. Everyone was willing to eat off paper plates and paper bowls and drink out of Solo cups.  After nearly five hours and a trip back to the hardware store, Chris declared he couldn’t finish till the next day.  At least he was able to turn back on the water for us. He and our friends left. Baylor was losing and I gave up and went to bed.

While in the midst of all the sink fiasco my coach and I also received word that one of our favorite former vice-principals and a mentor to my coach had passed away.  On Thursday I received word that one of my favorite college professors had also passed away.  This year is not starting out as I had hoped. I think we all get so caught up in the hype of its’ a new year and things are going “to be different” that we forget that we live in a world where it’s not always going to be easy and things aren’t always going to go the way we want.

I need to stop and remember that I am not the one in control.  My Lord and Savior is in control. Things might not be turning out as I had expected but that doesn’t mean that they have turned out bad. Two men who loved the Lord are now walking with Him in Heaven. I have a beautiful new sink and faucet that I’ve been wanting since I moved into this house. I have been reminded that my friends love me for being me and not for having the perfect football watching party. I have a husband who only wants the best for me and works hard to provide what our family needs when we need it.

2014 may not be off to the start that I was expecting but then again only the Lord knows what my future holds.  “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Praying that you have a wonderful 2014 and that you rely on the plans our awesome God. I know I will be!

Cheering you on,
Laurel