Cast All Your Care

Cast all your care upon Him, because He cares for you.

—1 Peter 5:7 MEV

One unseasonably warm day in February when my daughter Emma and son-in-law Ricky, along with their two children, were visiting, we all went for a walk on the farm. True to our habit, we stopped at the pond for four-year-old Layla to throw in a few stones. Ricky joined her and challenged himself to throw a stone as far as he could. I watched the concentration on his face as he intently cocked his arm. Then with all the finesse of a Major League Baseball pitcher, he hurled the rock, shooting it higher and farther than I had ever seen. It smacked the water hard, then sunk below the surface, its entrance marked only by ripples that quickly disappeared, returning the pond to its placid state.

Cares and Hairs

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

—Matthew 10:29-31 

I saw it fall.  

Right there in front of me the striking blue blossom loosened its grip on the orchid’s stem and floated to a landing in the center of my kitchen table. 

“Aww…” I moaned, pausing from my work just a moment to mourn the demise of my gorgeous centerpiece. 

Then I returned to the task at hand—tidying up the kitchen. But I left the blossom there. Maybe because it matched my mood. My kitchen table once decorated with smiling faces at each place was now set with piles of bills and a fading flower in its midst. 

A speck of green on the bench caught my attention. As I leaned down, I realized it was a tiny hair band. 

That’s where that got to. I remembered earlier in the week I had picked up my pony-tailed two-year-old granddaughter Addie from day care, and she wasn’t at my house long before the pony-tail disappeared. 

The Planning Committee

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

—Psalm 32:8 

Today was the big day for him.  I knew he had to be nervous.  At least I was – when I was observed by my administrator.  “I’ll pray for you,” I called through my colleague's classroom door.

“I hope I don’t need prayers!” he replied with a chuckle.

“I take all the prayers I can get,” I returned with a smile.  But on the inside I kept thinking about how differently we view prayer.

What I consider a vital part of Plan A is Plan B for others.  But it hasn’t always been that way for me.  How many times have I excluded God from the planning committee only to have to call Him in for the clean-up?