An Unexpected Blessing

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:48 ESV

As some of you know, we are knee-deep in Christmas caroling at nursing homes. (Which helps explain the avalanche of videos I’ve been posting). Here is an inside peek, Today’s event was such a lesson in unexpected blessings that I could hardly wait to share. This morning we arrived at a facility, to which a couple from our church recently moved. Though we had never done a program there, the activities director heard that I do music and so she invited us for caroling. Filled with excitement, song books, and gifts, five of us, showed up ready for some Christmas cheer, but we were met at the office with a notice that there had been another Covid outbreak. But before the groans and disappointment took over, we learned that two of us could come in if we tested negative (took 15 minutes) and we had to sing only in the halls and with masks on.

Of course, just as Nathaneal asked if anything good could come from Nazareth, I wondered what good could possibly come from the abrupt turnabout of our plans. But God is a much better planner than any of us, and we found that by trailing the director through the wards, we actually were able to sing for many residents who could not have made it down to the dining hall. Then on our way out we met some would-be carolers who had stopped in from a nearby facility. They were being turned away at the door, so Santa and I went outside and sang with them instead. We left exhausted and yet filled with the sense, that God had blessed us unexpectedly way beyond anything we could have imagined or planned. It just remined me that we must hold not only our possessions, but also our plans lightly. When we let God take control of the direction of our one-horse open sleigh, we will be amazed at what He has in mind for a destination!

Photo by Mateusz Feliksik on Pexels.com

God of the Plans

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

God of the Plans

To understand the plans of God and walk the way He said
Had always been a hope for me
Since I was just a kid

But life's great complications
Like children, bills and wife
And all my dumb decisions
Left me in a mess of strife

I couldn't seem to get a grip
Of God's great plan for me
And live a life like saints of old
Who always seemed to be
Accomplishing a lot for Him
Who died on Calvary

My struggles swept me far from shore
Till I felt lost at sea
And then I heard my Savior say
Just trust and follow Me!

God of the Plans by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2021 all rights reserved

“Far better to trust in the God of the plans than to struggle to know the plans of God” Peter Caligiuri

12 Gifts of Christmas / 8th Gift – Blueprints of Grace

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

As we near Christmas we need to remember that same grace that chose Bethlehem’s manger for God’s new born Son of God to lay in, has also chosen whatever struggles we face today. No matter what difficulty we are up against, today’s verse reminds us to abandon our own smarts, or strength. It reminds me of when I was about eight years old going with my step-father to visit his architectural firm. There, everywhere I looked large tables were filled with blueprints. My step-dad put me up on a chair so I could see and flipped through some of his plans. To my eight year old mind those pages looked more like a tangle of arrows and lines than anything useful. But He just smiled and slowly showed me how those arrows and lines would one day become beautiful new buildings. Today standing at the edge of old age I sometimes feel like that little boy again. I Look back and recall the unstoppable tears at the death of my parents, my terrifying visits to the emergency room for back pain and my wife’s battle with cancer. In the heat of those moments they just seemed like aimless and terrifying attacks. Though I know that in God’s design He has been working from a blueprint for good, I still need His grace to calm my heart and help me trust His plan.

Photo by Lex Photography on Pexels.com

The blueprints on God’s workbench are covered with the lines and plans of His grace. We may not see it but we are each a part of His design. One day together we will be completed in the beautiful home He has designed for us all. He often chooses that our struggles today, will become a comfort that we can give to someone else tomorrow. If we humbly ask in prayer, “Father what is this confusing jumble of lines and arrows written on your blueprint of grace for me?” He will delight in explaining just enough of His plan to gently lead us down our path today.