Sometimes Getting Declined Is A Part of the Plan

 

The word "No" can be very hard for me to comprehend.

 I like my way. 

I like my plans. 

I work very hard to think up efficient solutions and detailed plans. So when those plans or ideas are dismissed or derailed- let's just say I don't always take it lightly. 

This doesn't mean I run around throwing tantrums, I've grown tremendously. It has been a good 400 + days of things not going as planned. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating about every day being devoid of MY way but it has been quite the journey of flexibility. Even though on the outside I may remain calm and collected, my disdain for "no" can still stir my soul.

During a week that has required me to Matrix maneuver with the best of them, I decided I did not want any of the food I had in my apartment. After having spent almost $1,000 on sudden brake repairs, I tried to talk myself out of buying myself lunch. I was unsuccessful in my efforts and giddily went to pick up an Asian grilled chicken salad, hold chicken, sub trout. I had only had a muffin for breakfast, and had worked up a sweat in Body Pump. I argued some more with myself about whether or not I would indulge in an order of hush puppies. 

The board on the inside of the restaurant reminded me that the hush puppies weren't just any regular fried bread tastiness. They were crab filled hush puppies. I gleefully added them to my order. My bubble ended up burst when I heard the total. $28. For a salad and some bread?! Then they said they were out of hush puppies! I reluctantly inserted my card. The cashier said their system had been slow throughout the day. After an annoyingly long wait for a hungry person, the machine said declined. There was no reason for the card to be declined, but I just handed her a different one- as I pondered how a salad could cost so much. I inquired again and the cashier caught her error in charging me for what they did not have. Meanwhile the 2nd card came back declined. I asked the cashier to check her machine, but no difference. Declined! 

I wasn't tripping over the cards, but I was hungry. I suggested she try the lady who was waiting to purchase her food. Her card was declined too. As the cashier and the manager tried to figure out what to do about their messed up technology, I wished they had hush puppies I could get complimentary for the trouble. As the other lady tried to help problem solve, she offered to write a check. I am usually a card only person so I had no back up plan. Still I wasn't tripping, I was just hungry! Paying for the food wasn't a huge deal to me because I live like 3 minutes away. I just wanted to tear into my $20 salad. All of this rigmarole and delay were not a part of the plan. And then the lady asked to pay for my lunch with hers...

So I walked out with my free to me salad, musing over how I had almost talked myself out of lunch! And oh was that salad bomb. The fish, the dressing, oh my! Mind you, people who know me well know I am not a salad person.

Sometimes things aren't working out the way we have planned. It's as if our every move is being declined. Even if you don't have a my way or the highway type of personality like me, it can be tempting to get angry about being declined. It's one thing if you should be, it's another when you perceive everything to be on the up and up. But you being declined could all be a part of the plan. 

Lord, help us keep in step with your plan and to trust that sometimes getting declined is a part of that plan.