Deer-ly Departed Plans

Written by Rhonda Rhea

I always feel pretty good about myself when I manage to get all five of my kids off to school without misplacing any of them and without anyone going off to school naked. Mornings are wild around my house. After I drop the kids off, though, there’s a drive home on a peaceful country road. It’s therapeutic.

One morning, deep in “therapy,” I mentally mapped out my day. If I timed everything just perfectly, I could get a nagging writing deadline or two resolved, get the house reasonably picked up (at least scrape off the top layer), do enough laundry so that I wouldn’t have to worry about that naked-kid-thing, and maybe even find something for dinner that a pizza guy wouldn’t have to deliver.

I was deep into my plans when, without warning, a deer popped out of the woods and right onto the hood of my car!

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Talk about putting a dent in my plans – not to mention my car. My radiator was inside my engine!

But the deer fared even worse. An officer arrived a few minutes later and put the poor thing out of its misery. I blubbered like a real idiot. Talk about embarrassing.

I was glad that I had already taken the kids to school. I thought they would be even more upset than I was. Of course, later when I told them, my oldest son’s first comment was: “Cool! Do we get to eat it?” Kids! I pointed out to him that while I had accidentally done the tenderizing, field dressing the thing there in the road had somehow never occurred to me.

Don’t let it get around, but I did strut around at church the next evening, bragging to all the guys in my most macho way how I had bagged me a deer. I’ve got that macho act down. You just pull up your britches a lot, sniff and wipe your nose with the back of your hand. Then you spit. Okay, I couldn’t really bring myself to do the spitting part. Still, they were all deeply impressed.

But guess what happened with all my ambitious plans? Right. Exactly NOTHING! An hour waiting for a tow truck, more hours at the body shop (though I made the repair man very, very happy), then another few hours chatting with the insurance man. The insurance man was not nearly as happy as the guy at the body shop. As a matter of fact, he mentioned that he hoped the deer didn’t have any sue-crazy next of kin who might come after me with a wrongful death suit. Anyway, before I knew it, the day was gone.

I should never be so full of my own plans that I forget that the Lord might have something completely different in mind. There’s no satisfaction in life when I’m wrapped up in my own things – even when everything is deer-free. “The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, but a good man will be satisfied from above.” (Proverbs 14:14) True satisfaction comes from walking with Him every moment.

I want my satisfaction to be in Him wherever I’m walking. Wherever I’m driving, too – if I ever get my car out of the shop.

Are you feeling satifsied with life? Read about how you can learn to follow God’s direction for your life and how to be happy with the life you are living.