Being Open

If someone had told me a year ago I was weeks away from having a miscarriage, then I would finally get a job (after 2 years) and get pregnant again before the end of the year, I probably would have laughed. Oh, and that I would go camping TWICE!! without shower facilities for 2 days and become co-director of our Sparks program.
None of those things were on my agenda at this time last year. But they all happened in 2010 and man, did I learn from all of them! Isn't it amazing that sometimes the things we learn from the most are the unplanned, maybe even unwanted, events of our life? I'm sure we can all look back to several different times when we fought and struggled with God over His plan for us but now we might see the benefit of those events. Or perhaps we're still learning. The important thing is to be open for God's plan. Many of the things He brings into our lives we couldn't stop if we wanted to. In those cases it's our attitudes that make or break the lesson.
Take my silly camping experiences. I enjoy having a shower every night, especially when I'm in circumstances that will get me dirty. But camping at Bryce Canyon with the youth group offered no options but a rubdown with Baby Wipes. At first I was adamantly against going but since Tommy is the youth leader, I realized I needed to go and supervise the girls from our church. I had never been camping like that before so pitching tents, storing gear, it was all new to me. And I tried to keep a positive attitude through it all, although I was wondering how clean I would really be after 3 days.
The lesson I learned was God has created some incredible things. We took Abbey with us but she wasn't allowed on most of the hiking trials the youth were going to be taking. So while Tommy took the youth, I took the dog. We explored other campsites, chased a few squirrels and stood on the edge of a ridge gazing at the amazing display of red rock. We walked to Sunset Point and stayed until after dark to see the colors. We got up early and watched the sunrise. And when I was looking at the beauty of God's creation, I forgot all about being dirty and sleeping in the cold. I will admit the first thing I did when I got home was take a shower, even before I unpacked. But those 3 days weren't the nightmare I had anticipated.
I'm still learning from the more drastic changes 2010 brought and I have to remind myself often that God doesn't do anything by mistake. We just have to be open to the changes He brings along and strive to learn from them.