I have become a big fan of Margaret Feinberg. I came to "meet" her through her connection with Ecclesia Houston, my favorite church in the world that I have never worked at. Maybe my favorite church in the world that I have ever been to. Anyway, I have been following her on Twitter for a couple of weeks now, and she has become one of my favorites to quote and retweet. I hope someday soon to read one or more of her books (The Organic God, The Sacred Echo, Scouting the Divine, etc.), but for now her tweets are about all that I can handle.
She comes across twitter with what she calls a "Morning Chutzpah" where she shares some wisdom from Hebrew sources (I assume from the name. The chutzpah part, at least.) It was one of these quotes -- "The past for wisdom, the present for action, but for joy the future." by Disraeli -- that brought structure and clarity to my sermon last week. If you've ever had a lot to say but no idea how to structure it, you understand how wonderful a guiding thought can be!
I was reminded of Margaret this afternoon. Her morning chutzpah from two days ago was a proverb -- "Man proposes, and God laughs." Learned that lesson again today. For about 4 years, we have talked about going to Angel Fire, NM, so that my girls could learn how to ski from one of my favorite people in the world, Pat "Pappy" Harris. Pappy made that promise to my girls at camp a few years ago, and my daughters refuse to allow Pappy to renege. So we made plans this Spring Break to head north to New Mexico for some relaxation, skiing, and friends.
Well, Pappy called today (we were leaving tomorrow) and told us that it was a disaster -- sick people, lodging falling through, etc. So, we are not going to New Mexico to ski over Spring Break. But, since my wife had all of the girls packed for a colder climate, we will head north to see family tomorrow. I think the girls will be all right with that. They'd better be.
As I launch out in a new endeavor ministerially, I can't help but remember this quote. "Man proposes, and God laughs." It reminds me to never take my plans too seriously. It reminds me that "I don't know" is often the right answer. And it reminds me that I should probably spend a whole lot more time praying than I do proposing. Unless I want to keep God laughing. Which I'll probably end up doing anyway.
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