Surprise me

29 When she saw the angel, she was troubled at his words. She thought about what had been said. 30 The angel said to her, “Mary, do not be afraid. You have found favor with God. 31 See! You are to become a mother and have a Son. You are to give Him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the place where His early father David sat. 33 He will be King over the family of Jacob forever and His nation will have no end.” Luke 1:29-33

It was late Friday afternoon when my office phone rang. I recognized the call from my wife right away. She asked me if we should do something social tonight. As I reflected over the social calendar that weekend, I reminded her that since we're doing something with friends Saturday evening and we're getting together with our son the following day I thought we should keep our Friday night open.

  Then, I asked my wife what we should do about supper, reflecting on the tray of frozen Costco boneless pork chops sitting in the freezer imagining myself with a welder's torch defrosting it when I heard those magical words out of her mouth: "surprise me".  No sooner than when she said those words I knew what to get for dinner that night.  I love Vietnamese cooking and throughout our marriage, beginning with our courtship, we would either eat in or pick up to bring home. 

Surprise me.  It reminds me of another time when our children were younger when I came home announcing to our kids that we were going to take a plane trip to Disney World or other places like Phoenix, Arizona, California, Washington DC or Colorado. No sooner than I mentioned those plans to our kids did I feel their excitement in their faces.  

Surprise me.  It reminds me in my relationship with Linda when I enjoyed making plans to take her somewhere nice so she could feel special by dressing up and beautifying herself in anticipation for the big night out.

Surprise me. It reminds me of surprise birthday parties through the years of watching each of our kids gasping with excitement at the mere sight of friends taking time out to celebrate their birthday.

So often, it seems, that when tragedy enters our lives we forget the impact that surprises have on others. Why?  Because we're so wrapped up in the work on grieving that it causes us to fall into the trap of routine and predictability. Like soldiers marching in lock step manner, we trudge along with no real purpose. We tell ourselves that we're trying to survive this ordeal, not thrive.

Perhaps, what we all need to do is learn the art of surprising me. Learn to fall in love all over again with those you knew before the tragedy. This is why, I think, I felt like the way I did when my wife said 'surprise me'. 

I encourage everyone to practice surprising the ones you love. Take turns planning these 'surprise me' events so each of your can have the mouth gasping excitement of being surprised. 

Lastly, I'm reminded how our Lord sent his angel Gabriel spoke to Mary to let her know that the Lord was going to bring hope and salvation into the world through her newborn baby Jesus.

 God, being the author of our lives, understood the importance surprises play in the lives of people.

 So, go ahead and surprise your loved one and see how this element of surprise impacts their life.