Ever had a plan then have it seem like it is going to go down the drain, only to be redeemed in a way you didn’t expect? I went to The Old Time Pottery with my kids and my father-in-law in search of a light-up Nativity Scene that they had on sale. As we walked in you could see that the place was pretty picked over from the Black Friday before. With 10 check-out lines about 10-15 people deep, it was still quite crazy but I was on a mission to find some outside lights that are about the real meaning of Christmas.

I wanted that Nativity scene and some pre-lit garland for the front porch. If you’ve never been to The Old Time Pottery before I describe it as a cross between a Michael’s and a Big Lots — all kind of crafts and stuff with no real organization to the store. We decided the best thing to do was put the kids in a cart and let my father-in-law occupy them while I surveyed the store. I circled the store several times and found only light-up snowmen and Santas, not once seeing anyone who actually worked at the store.

Finally after about 30 minutes someone walked out of the back to help lift a large box onto someone’s cart. I helped lift it too and asked if he could help me next. He walked me to the store display — the very last one left in the store — and boxed it up for me. I asked about the garland but they were all out so I headed up to the checkout to wait in the long lines.

The lines were crazy as people had to verbally define who was after who because there was not enough room to make a straight line. Thankful for the last Nativity set, I had given up on the garland and was now prepared to wait in line for what I estimate to be another 45 minutes or so. (Not to mention everyone was getting quite hungry by now.)

Then, all of a sudden, just in front of me they opened a “CHARGE ONLY” line. The way the lines curved I was naturally the second person in the line for the new checkout station. And there on the counter sat two reasonably priced boxes of indoor/outdoor white lights that someone had to leave behind for some reason. I put them in the cart and figured I might could piece together enough garland that we already had. Either way, I was able to check out pretty quickly and get some lunch without anyone going into a low bloodsugar fit — myself included.

Turns out we had just enough garland at home and everything worked out perfectly. And I was thankful because I knew the success was not because of my plans — only God’s provision, the real meaning of Christmas. Mission accomplished.

By the way, the Nativity set is not the big plastic kind with the cow and donkey but a wireframe with colored lights and foil.