Earlier this week, I wrote about what happens when the plans don't make sense. If you're not familiar with how to read a blueprint, the symbols and legend can leave you confused. But once someone teaches you how to interpret them, you know exactly what to do next.

Then I realized something. Sometimes the problem isn't that we can't read the blueprint. Sometimes we understand the instructions perfectly...

We just don't agree with them.

Or maybe they don't make sense to us. So we decide to do it our way. We cut corners. Skip steps. Ad-lib. Surely the end result will be the same, right?

Case in point.

When I was about six months pregnant, we received a MamaRoo swing from our baby registry. It was the latest and greatest baby gadget at the time, designed to mimic several different rocking motions. When the big box arrived, my husband surprised me by putting it together while I was at work. I came home, and there it was—sitting in our living room, looking exactly like the picture on the box.

But then I noticed something.

There were a bunch of screws and straps still sitting in the box.

I asked him about them.

He said, "Oh, I didn't need those." 😯

Reader... let me tell you.

I sat my six-month-pregnant self down on the floor of our condo, took that entire thing apart, and rebuilt it from the ground up—step by step, piece by piece. When I finished, it looked exactly the same to the naked eye. But this time, there weren't any parts left over. It had been assembled exactly as it was designed.

And that's the lesson.

Sometimes we take shortcuts in life because the instructions don't make sense to us. Or because we think we've found a better, faster, or easier way. We may even arrive at something that looks like what was intended.

But appearances can be deceiving.

Just like that MamaRoo swing, the missing pieces may not become obvious until life puts pressure on the structure. When challenges come, shortcuts have a way of revealing themselves.

So don't ad-lib the blueprint.

Listen. Trust. Obey.

Follow the instructions you've been given, even when you don't fully understand them. The Ultimate Architect sees the finished design long before we do. And when we trust the process, we position ourselves to manifest the destiny that was designed just for us. 🦋

Have you ever been tempted to ad-lib because you didn't understand—or didn't agree with—the instructions? How did it turn out?

Stephanie G. Vanterpool, MD, MBA
​ Physician • Educator • Researcher • Writer
​ Founder, Blueprints & Butterflies​

​
​P.S. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Every reflection continues as a conversation on Substack.

🦋 Join the conversation:https://substack.com/@svanterpoolmd​