Don’t Ignore the Nudge

Joni Lynn Schwartz
Apr 23
2 min read

This morning, the 15-year-old was frantically searching for her sunglasses while the 9-year-old and I waited in the car. It was career fair day, and they were going to be spending a significant amount of time outside. We offered her other sunglasses, but she was set on finding those ones. As she got out of the car at drop-off, her final comment to me was, “I hope the sun doesn’t come out.”

Later that morning, I was tackling laundry mountain when I came across the missing sunglasses sitting right there in the dirty laundry basket. At that moment, I felt a little nudge: go bring them to her. I glanced outside—it was mostly cloudy, just a little sun trying to break through, and extremely windy—and I tried to ignore it. I kept folding, but the sun kept catching my attention through the window. Eventually, I gave in, put on my tennis shoes, and walked up to the school.

I found the 15-year-old, handed off the sunglasses, and even got a thank you, which felt like a small win. But what I didn’t expect was what happened on the way home. I ran into the mom of someone I went to high school with, and we ended up having a great conversation about Twins Fantasy Camp because her son is planning to attend next year. It was one of those conversations that wouldn’t have happened if I had just stayed home and powered through my to-do list.

As I thought about that encounter on the walk back, it hit me how a small, slightly inconvenient nudge turned into an unexpected blessing. I had a plan for my morning, and it definitely did not include an extra trip to the school. But I’m starting to notice a pattern in these interruptions. A couple weeks ago, it was going back to Walmart after realizing I hadn’t paid for an item. This time, it was a pair of sunglasses. Neither moment felt significant at the time, but both became something more.

How often do I cling to my own plans, assuming they’re the best use of my time, when God might be gently redirecting me?

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. — Isaiah 55:8

Sometimes His way looks like an interruption, but it can lead to a God-appointment I would have otherwise missed.

For the record, I didn’t get my house cleaned today. But I’m learning that maybe the goal isn’t always to get everything done. Maybe it’s to stay open to those quiet nudges, even when they don’t fit neatly into my schedule.