INTERRUPTIONS

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” JOHN LENNON

I’m a TAURUS (Birthday in May, by the way – I like bacon-themed gifts) and I’ve learned, through self-discovery and in speaking to other fellow Taureans (Taurulites?…Taurlettes?  Whatever.) that we of that Birth Sign are prone to want to have things in order, a clear agenda without change.  When things DO change, we sometimes get discombobulated and feel like our worlds are out of whack.  I, for one, have taken a long time to get comfortable with God’s agenda over mine.

Also as a QUOTE PERSON, besides the one at the front of this BLOG, one of my new favorites is this anonymously-written one:

“Life is a series of interruptions interrupted by interruptions.” 

My problem is that sometimes I don’t PLAN for interruptions, which means that (if John Lennon and Anon. are correct) I don’t “plan for LIFE”.

The word, “interruption” sometimes gets a negative spin…but artistically, in music and theatre especially, interruptions are what make art, music, and theatre interesting…when a musical pattern is established and then broken the listener’s mind is awakened and begins listening in a fresh way.  After all, isn’t that what life is about also?  And whose life is it anyway?  Should I be following MY agenda or my Father’s?

For those of us who attend business meetings regularly, we are somewhat familiar with ROBERT’S RULES OF ORDER; the pattern by which most business meetings run.  In the agenda set by THAT order, “new business” comes at the end of the meeting, after the agenda (set by the Chair) is checked off.  But I attended one large business meeting in which “new business” was inserted several times during the entire agenda.  The chairman of the meeting told us at the beginning of our session that this was because so many questions arose during the meeting that led to new ideas that he didn’t want to wait until the end of the meeting to hear them.  He also said (and I found this especially true) that the “interruption” of new business at various points of the agenda interrupted the flow enough to keep the meeting interesting without slowing it down…he was absolutely right, in that case at least.

Do you feel “put upon” when interrupted?  Do you feel that what YOU’RE doing at the time is important enough that you can’t stop for something else?  Perhaps you need a crisis in your life so that you can adjust your priorities and find out what TRULY is important…or, better yet make the adjustment yourself without having to experience a traumatic experience to get you to that place…that would be MY choice.

Jesus is still our model for behavior in this world and, from what I read, He had a full schedule.  And yet, one of the most moving stories of healing was an interruption.  When he was travelling from one place of ministry to the next a woman who had been suffering for 12 years with hemorrhaging “touched the fringe of His prayer shawl” (MATT 9:20) and Jesus stopped.  He was on His way to a very important man’s house…and surely, if anyone’s agenda is important it’s Jesus’ agenda.  But He knew what LIFE is, and life IS not necessarily “interruptions” but “connections of surprise”, “opportunities to love”, “God’s agenda”.

So, set your agenda…and plan for the unplanned.  What GOD has in mind may be far superior than your calendar.