The Catholic Writers Guild

What surprises does God have on his to-do list for you today?

Does he wake you up early enough to enjoy the beautiful sunrise he created?

As you get dressed, does he prompt you to pray for a divorced friend or cancer-stricken relative?

Perhaps when you get to work and prepare to give a presentation this afternoon, the connector for the projector is nowhere around. You rush out to buy one and are soon drenched by a thunderstorm. But the deluge stops while you are in the store. Driving back to work, you watch the clouds clear and then gasp at the sight of a gorgeous rainbow.

Double-duty

A new co-worker goes home with the flu, unable to complete a report due today. You offer to finish it. As you sit down at his desk. you notice the trio of dogs depicted on his screensaver. Your heart feels sad for him as you complete his work and return to your computer screen crowded with family photos.

Lunchtime comes, and you find enough on your plate to share with a co-worker who is hungry.

The presentation goes okay, though not well attended. You are asked to repeat it later this afternoon for those who couldn’t make it. Not on your list for today. Still, you comply and the second crowd applauds!  You make a new friend in the clamor of questions that ensue.

An unplanned stop

At a stoplight, you read your daughter’s text message: “Band practice running late.” You see a church steeple a block away and steal into the chapel for a few minutes of solitude. God planned that time with you. You kneel and say a few quick prayers and then sit back and close your eyes. As you take a few deep breaths, it seems you are inhaling God’s love and exhaling all your stress. You leave in complete peace.

Your daughter and her friend Maria are just coming out of the school when you drive up. Maria lives in a one-bedroom apartment down the hall from you. She hangs out with your family while her mother works the late shift cleaning the hospital. Today you don’t mind the extra responsibility.

No time for supper at home, so another meal on the go to make it on time to your son’s soccer game. You arrange a ride for him and as you wait at the drive-thru window. Looking up, you catch a glimpse of the sunset. You realize it has been weeks since you have noticed this everyday sign of God’s covenant promise of eternal love.

Mud fight

The soccer game turns into a mud fight and the children laugh it up all the way home. You shake your head and thank God for the joy on their faces — and a washing machine!

After the bustle of baths and bedtime, your home rests in the quiet you experienced in the chapel earlier. Your children are asleep in their rooms and Maria on the couch until her mother knocks at midnight.

Before you fall into bed, you brush away the dust from the Bible on the bottom shelf of your bedside table.  Perhaps there is more to this day than you put on your to-do list.

What surprises do you imagine God has on his to-do list for you today?

(© 2017 Nancy H C Ward)

Nancy Ward

Nancy Ward, convert, journalist, author, and speaker, writes from Texas about Catholicism, conversion and Christian community at NancyHCWard.com, JOYAlive.net, and other websites and magazines. Through her Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story workshops, retreats and DVD, she shares her conversion story in Catholic parishes and at conferences, equipping others to share their stories. She contributed to the award-winning The Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion, facilitates two Catholic Writers Guild critique groups, serves on the Guild’s Board, and speaks at national writers conferences.