When Things Don't Go According to Your Planner (Hello, March!)

Kung gaano katagal ang January, ganun naman kabilis ang February! Did you feel that, too?

Now, we are going on our 3rd month into the year, and looking back, a lot of the things that I was hoping for didn't go exactly as planned.

As I'm writing this, Ciara woke up and decided to join me and wrote this:

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Haha! Gusto din nyang mag-hello! So that's a case in point of things not going according to plan. Of course, all moms know that truth by heart. There's your plan, and then there's your baby's plan. And their plans always prevail. Ha!

So going back, this first quarter, I am reminded to hold things a little more loosely.

There are a number of things that I was looking forward to this year that didn't pan out. Maybe it's not a total NO in God's book, maybe it's a NOT YET sort of thing... but still, I felt frustrated and disappointed.

But God gave me a picture of two things: 

...Of water flowing

...Of a bamboo swaying with the wind

...Of water flowing

You know how sometimes water would gush out and sometimes it would just trickle? If you're trying to fill a bucket with water, it would probably take you an hour to fill it to the brim with just drops of water from a faucet, but when water is gushing, it would already be overflowing in just a matter of seconds!

God was telling me that sometimes I have to wait it out... and just as He guides me in the right direction, it is also He who would direct my flow or the pace on how I do things..

There are things that we are waiting for as a family, we already know the direction that God is pointing us to, but it's taking years in between when we received the word to the fulfillment of that promise. Do you also have those things? Those promises that God gave you years ago, but as to when that will happen, only He knows! Well, just like the water, go with His flow... Don't miss out on the journey, don't belittle the process.. because there is joy in those too.

...Of a bamboo swaying with the wind

I love myself a good ol bamboo, but being a Filipino, I feel like every school textbook has put the coconut tree on a pedestal. Lol! Like it's the glorious coconut tree with its unlimited uses and resourcefulness, that kind of trumps every other plant on the planet.

So for this one, let's put the spotlight on the bamboo. Woot woot!

Take note, not just a bamboo but how it moves and dances with the wind. I remember what Dennis would tell me whenever we would go for a climb, "ung kawayan pwede mong kapitan yan. Kasi matibay yan, di basta basta mababale..." Well, I knew that a bamboo was quite sturdy, but I just didn't how much.

To copy Kuya Kim's voice in "Alam mo ba?"... "Alam mo ba gaano katibay ang isang kawayan?"

Bamboo is extremely strong. It has a tensile strength of 28,000 pounds per square inch, surpassing steel. Moreover, it’s 2-3 times harder and stronger than most hardwoods, like oak and maple. It has an impressive strength-to-weight ratio! - Source: Woodworkly

Bamboo is also virtually fire-proof because of the silicate acid that it has, and it is the fastest growing plant. Odiba! Syempre nagresearch din ako to write this post and it just amazes me just how truly amazing a bamboo is.  So it's practically fire-proof, strong, and flexible. Wow! Parang gusto ko nalang atang maging bamboo!

So I felt that God was telling me..

I will keep you strong, just remember to follow where the wind blows as I am the wind. I will make you flexible, just be still and surrender to my heeding. I am making you grow, but it is only I who know when the season for growth is and the season to wait...

Yesterday, I was going through my planner and I came across pages where I jotted plans there but didn't pushed through. I also just received an update from my sister that daddy finished his 2nd session for chemo the other day. 

I felt a wee bit sad but then I remembered those two images: water flowing and bamboo swaying... and I know that there are still so many things that God is doing in the background that are not in my planner... While it's good to have these things that we are hoping for written down on papers, it is His hopes and dreams that needed to be etched in our hearts and minds. 

And we will only discover these things and find joy in them when we loosen our grip in our own plans, and allow Him to work on and through His plans for us.

Just like Baby Ciara chillin' with the flow ;)

Photo credits:
https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/181245/view/water-flowing-from-pipes