Pray and Draw

   A couple of hours ago, I woke up. I had been dreaming that my life and all the things around me were swirling out of control, and I could not think of a thing to rectify the situation. It was chaos, and I was helpless to do anything.

   So I got up with those thoughts still there and sat down to read and pray and look for some semblance of order in all of this. Then the website for the Scripture for this day just gave me an error message, saying that it could not be found. It did not look good.

   Then as I walked, it began to sprinkle and then rain a little harder. Finding a house with a raised back porch, one that I knew no one was home at the time, I ducked under to wait out the weather. As I stood and watched and thought and prayed, I realized that this was what I needed. A forced wait, a quiet time to think and pray, and so I did.

   As I returned to the condo, I remembered that I could access the day's Scripture with a different approach, so I did, and this is what I found in the Psalm 71 reading:

"Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails."

   Yes, it was the way I felt and the verse rang true.

   I thought back to our recent trip. On the "at sea" days, our friends brought out a game that both couples enjoyed playing, a domino game, called Mexican Train.

   Sometimes you draw a hand, and nothing seems to fit in place. Everywhere you look to play, there is no match and you are forced to draw again and again.Everyone else has their train moving, but your's is stalled, and the tiles that will count against you just keep piling up.

   How to cope with a "no control" situation?

   Pray and draw again…

   There were times on that trip when we had events planned that we wanted to be able to enjoy. Realizing the control over these that I did not have, I just prayed. There were a lot of things that could have damaged the day, but God was gracious and the days played out well. I was grateful, and still am.

   Sometimes the dominos just line up to be played.

   Even then I realize that any control over that game, or life, is not mine, so what do I do when things swirl.

   Pray first and then keep drawing.