In professional ministry, it often happens when engaged couples are making 
plans for their future. Laughable plans ensue.
I was once given a “wedding day schedule” that looked something like this:
- 4:00 Music begins playing.
- 4:05 Guests begin arriving.
- 4:10 Guests begin to take their seats.
- 4:25 Mothers are seated.
- 4:28 Butterflies are released.
- 4:30 Groomsmen and Groom take their places.
- 4:35 Bridesmaids process down the aisle.
- 4:45 Trumpets sound and bride appears. Etc. Etc.”
I remember one couple who told me that they would have their first child 2.5 years after their wedding date. “And we hope it’s a boy.”
Good luck with all that.
Plans are good and I’m a big fan of preparation. But we just don’t know what the future will bring. We don’t even know how dinner will go tonight.
Improv is part of a well-lived life and MaryAnn McKibben Dana explains it all in her new book God, Improv, and The Art of Living. MaryAnn unpeels the many layers of how engaging intentional improvisation in life brings satisfaction and wholeness. Her book makes excellent life and faith connections, and the reflections will have an impact on my own ministry and life for years to come.
And as the mom of three young adults, I can see improv as a calming tool for those who find themselves in the throes of Big Adult Life Choices. It feels stressful to be in a season of life when there are so many decisions to make that may impact one’s life forever. MaryAnn’s treatment of improv as a spiritual practice brings relief and hope to those in the throes of Serious Adulting.
Read it. I especially recommend it for book groups that like to dig deeper into life.
Full Disclosure: This blog wouldn’t exist without MAMD. But nobody asked me to write this review. I really just want everyone to read it.
A Church for Starving Artists 