I try to keep all my ducks in a row,
but at least one of them always waddles off.
Does anyone else have this feeling about life? To get your ducks in a row means to organize your tasks and schedule so that you are ready for the next step. Real ducklings, of course, walk in a nice neat line behind their parent. In theory, having our ducks in a row would mean we are well organized and able to keep things in line.
I try to be organized and to work ahead and to be prepared. My theory is that if I have the basics organized, I can better deal with last-minute changes as they come along. That’s the theory. However, sometimes my best-laid plans don’t work out so well. I make plans based on the information that I have and then that information is either incorrect or gets changed. Sometimes it is difficult to keep up with all the changes that come my way. And quite often, my plans go out the window. Does any of this sound familiar?
We are currently still in winter. Here in Wisconsin, we know that snow and ice can drastically change our plans. We know that illness or injury can change our plans. We know that car trouble can change our plans. We know that people who work very differently from us can change our plans. Despite our efforts and our best-laid plans, those plans can change.
2023 celebrates 250 years since Pastor John Newton wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.” He wrote it to accompany his New Year’s Day sermon in 1773. He based that sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17:
16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I,
O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?
17 And even this was a small thing in your sight, O God;
you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come.
You regard me as someone of high rank, O LORD God!
In this passage, King David wonders something that we probably all have wondered. With all of God’s creation, all the billions of people in the world, and all of what happens in the world, how is it that God watches over each and every one of us? And, why does God watch over each and every one of us?
Pastor Newton wrote the words of “Amazing Grace” based on his own experiences in life. He had served as a sea captain once when a violent storm came up and struck his ship so severely that all he could do was call out to God for mercy. That was his “the hour I first believed” moment. The words of “Amazing Grace” do not explain why God watches over us so closely, but they celebrate the fact that God does. Even when our plans do not go as we want them to, God’s grace comes close and carries us through.
February 22 is Ash Wednesday this year. We will be having worship each Wednesday evening during the season of Lent. Our lessons each week will look at a variety of Bible stories and how we see God’s grace at work in each story. Please join us each week as we examine those stories and our own and witness for ourselves God’s amazing grace.
Pastor Beth
920-562-2853
pastorbmacha@yahoo.com
