POTA!

It was about 5:00. Jeremy and I were on our way to Mesquite, Nevada where we would be spending the night before tackling Angels Landing in Zion National Park the next day. It was our anniversary, the kids were with their grandparents, and we wanted to conquer a grown-up hike.

Suddenly traffic came to a complete stop. A terrible accident had brought 10 miles of holiday weekend traffic to a total standstill. We were hours from our destination with no viable alternate routes, though other drivers tried their darndest to make one. Clearly, our well-laid plans to arrive in Mesquite in time for a nice dinner, relaxing soak in the hot tub, and a restful sleep before the steep, exposed climb were going to need some tweaking. “POTA,” Jeremy said with a shrug.

Part of the Adventure

My best friend’s mom invented the word POTA (pō-TAH), an acronym for “part of the adventure.” When something doesn’t go as planned, “POTA” shifts her attitude from frustration to acceptance, even anticipation, at what’s to come. It’s a phrase now common in my family as we encounter unexpected weather, wrong turns, and mishaps.

We arrived in Mesquite well past our anticipated bedtime, setting us back a few hours in the morning. As we waited in line for the park shuttle, the cool morning hours gone, we felt the temperature rising. I became increasingly aware that my propensity for heat exhaustion would make for a miserable, if not downright dangerous, hike. Moments before boarding the shuttle, we decided to take on the Narrows instead.

Back at Mesquite that evening, we savored prime rib and reflected on our incredible adventure, despite a drastic last-minute change. Though we weren’t exactly prepared to get wet up to our chests, our POTA attitude allowed us to enjoy walking in a pleasantly cool river through a shady slot canyon rather than suffering heat exhaustion on a difficult climb. Disappointment at not achieving our original goal was short-lived as the Narrows immediately became one of our all-time favorite hikes.

Best Laid Plans

Clichéd phrases about closed doors and open windows aside, POTA helps us recognize that our best laid plans aren’t always what God has in mind for us. We may discover something better, if we are willing to trust him and let go of our own vision. I am certainly not saying we shouldn’t make plans–far from it. I don’t know how NOT to plan! But we cannot hold our plans as sacred, excluding any possibility for a different and unexpected adventure. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails,” (Proverbs 19:21, NIV).

That is my prayer for this blog, and for anyone who chooses to read it: That we would find joy in the unexpected, peace in the unknown, and hope as we submit our wills to his.