Prayers Answered!

This past week has been a hectic one. As so often happens during the holiday season, several events fell within a short period. I don’t know about you, but during the rest of the year we can go for weeks with little on our calendar. But this week there were an over-abundance of engagements, plus things that had to be taken care of.

A Christmas dinner hosted by a colleague turned out to be a three-hour affair, when our host suggested we all try the “Tasting Menu”. There were many courses with small portions, and each course was presented with great ceremony, every dish described as to ingredients and preparation. By the fifth course, it was 10:30, and we still had several courses to go! Tom and I fell into bed at midnight, knowing the next day would be just as long.

The following evening was a joyful time, joining with two dear friends at Johnny Mathis’ glorious Christmas concert! But another midnight bedtime was difficult, with our schedule for the next several days so demanding.

The following day Tom was up at 4:30 AM, for a two-day medical seminar in San Francisco. I was concerned about the daily two-hour drive roundtrip, with insufficient sleep. My heart kept repeating, “May he be safe. May he be safe.”

In the midst of all this, we were on tap to have two of our grandkids sleep over. At the last minute, our daughter-in-law called to cancel, and we were actually grateful. There was so much on our plate that I had been praying for a break.

At the end of the seminar we were scheduled to drive two hundred miles up into the mountains, for our granddaughter’s birthday and her ballet recital. But it seems the Mystery hears the longing of our hearts and knows our needs, and answers in ways we could never imagine! A winter storm rolled in, with three to four feet of snow predicted and possible road closures.

This was to be a brief overnight trip, in order to be back in time for Tom to have his pacemaker replaced on Monday. But with the storm coming in, we couldn’t chance being stranded hundreds of miles from home. We had to cancel our visit.

The procedure Tom will have is fairly simple and commonplace, but as with any surgery, there is always the possibility of complications. It is important to be prepared with plenty of rest, and the way our week was jammed with days in the office, late nights, the seminar, the sleepover, and the 400 mile round-trip drive, it didn’t look as though Tom would be getting much rest. But with the canceling of the sleepover and the trip up the mountain, we now have a blessed Sunday that has turned into a real day of rest!

We are settling into the quiet and peace of our little home, with nothing to do from now until Monday morning! All our plans were sifted and shaken, and only a minimum remained, leaving us time to prepare for the surgery. Isn’t it amazing how everything fell into place? How could I forget that we are not really in control? There is a Presence, a Mystery which somehow holds tenderly both the smallest detail and the entire universe. It is so human to fret and to worry, yet that accomplishes not a whit. All that is needed is some planning, a little faith, and a lot of letting go!