"The Plan Sent To Ya"

"For in Him, we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 1:28

Yes, my mother is a reality TV addict. She particularly is drawn to those shows that include children, family, or surgery. Each day she updates us on the latest episodes of John & Kate Plus 8, the Little People, or the Health Channel's heart-wrenching stories of dramatic births, surgical rescue or demise. Right now she is sooo looking forward to the debut of the Octomom show. Can you imagine? Sometimes I think, "how in the world can you watch this stuff (or admit it? haha)? But then she produces a gem. The connection to reality.

Recently she watched a bloody instructional dissection of the placenta on the Health Channel. At dinner - yes, at dinner - she described in great detail the absolutely amazing functional design of the placenta, while my husband pushed his food around on his plate contemplating its safety. I guess you medical people are used to this scene.

In truth, I was fascinated. It IS amazing - this perfectly designed cooperative system through which a baby in utero receives all it needs to grow and survive from its mother - extracting nutrients, hydration, and oxygen while discarding the waste products of this exchange. All the while, each remaining its own separate unique system. Mom likened this to our spiritual growth. God has fashioned for us a placenta - or, in her words "a Plan Sent To Ya" - revealed by Him. Paul introduces this analogy in Acts 17:28 when he says, "For in Him, we live, and move, and have our being." Our spiritual growth follows this same premise. Relying upon Jesus, the plan sent to ya, for our sustenance, connected by the umbilical cord of the Holy Spirit, we receive from the Father the milk of the Word - in it is everything we need to live, move, and have our being, and the means to discard what we don't. You might think that we lose that umbilical cord connection at birth, but according to my mom, we don't. Yes, it is cut. But we are not cut off. Now our cord is akin to a bungee cord. Still connected, we experience the exhilarating highs of the stretch but also the painful lows of the snap. But, in faith, we take that plunge into the world - with a scream, which as in birth shows life - believing that the cord will do what it is designed to do, pull us back.

I am grateful for this system. I am grateful for the nourishment, the salvation that I cannot get on my own. I am grateful for the ability to cast my cares upon Him and the strength I obtain from that. I am grateful to have shared in the growth and development of eight amazing miracles, experiencing firsthand being the nourisher, experiencing the beauty of their development (& how I love them all). I am grateful for the witness of spiritual growth in so many lives. I am grateful for the fellowship I have with my mother. I am grateful to you, O Lord!

Today, if you hear His voice, it's your mama calling with the plan sent to ya.