Prepared to Be Surprised

I’ve never been the guest of honor at a surprise party. In fact, I’ve only had one birthday party in my entire life, and that was a really big deal back then. Unlike my own children, who used to have birthday parties every year when they were younger, a typical birthday for me and for my sister Ellen consisted of sharing some cake with our immediate family, opening a few gifts, and posing for Dad to take our official birthday photo for posterity.

The year of my one and only party I was eight, and my mother invited five friends to share in our cake and presents tradition and play pin the tail on the donkey. I didn’t know what “cool” was then, but I was in heaven. And maybe that particular birthday, which was so special to me, is the reason I used to go all out for my kids’ birthdays.

My greatest success for Ben’s birthday was a paintball party. We loaded up some pizza and cake, a whole Suburban full of boys, and about a gajillion paintballs and went to a paintball course in the woods near Blountville, Tennessee. The boys spent all afternoon running around and shooting at each other. It was a blast. A close runner-up was the year my father built an amazing “tree” house on stilts. He loaded it onto a trailer at his house and drove five hours to arrive at our McDonalds in the middle of Ben’s third birthday party. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

Hannah’s best party, in my opinion, was a “creek walking” party at Sugar Hollow Park when she turned six. We told her friends to meet us there with old shoes and a change of clothes, and they played in the creek for hours. We rented a shelter, which turned out to be a very good idea, because a typical August thunderstorm materialized just as we were grilling burgers. Hannah will tell you her most vivid memory of that day was of the cooler that held her ice cream cake sliding off of the back of the truck on the way up the steep hill to the shelter. Fortunately this ice cream cake, like most, was frozen as hard as the Artic tundra and survived the fall intact. It was a wonderful day, and I’d give anything to live it again.

These were wonderful days, and I’d give anything to live them again. But none of my children’s parties were surprises to them. They (Hannah, in particular) expended great efforts in “helping” me plan their birthday parties each year, starting approximately six months in advance. I did attend a surprise party for our friend Ed Dutton when he turned 50, but I believe that was my only opportunity to “surprise” someone.

Maybe surprise parties only happen in movies, but there are plenty of other surprises in real life. Some are good, like a big, fat tax refund check…a call from a friend you haven’t talked with in awhile…or visiting your mom and discovering she made your favorite meal. Others aren’t so good, like a letter from the IRS with no check enclosed…a call from your doctor with bad news…or losing a parent unexpectedly.

“Prepare to be Surprised” may sound like oxymoronic advice, but it’s a safe bet that you’ll be surprised one way or another most days. Just keep your eyes open, because sometimes the good surprises can be small and easily missed. And the bad ones? Nothing is certain in this life, but for me it’s enough just to know who holds the future in His hands. I may be surprised, but He’ll never be caught off guard.

“When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.” ~ Ecclesiastes 7:14 (NIV)