Last week, I went camping with my family and some friends for a few days. I enjoyed most of it, but there was one day where it rained pretty heavily the whole day, which ruined our plans to go on a hike and check out the programs/activities in the park, so we spent the day at our friends’ yurt. I thought, “This is not ideal AT ALL.”
However, I realized that ideals are our (often unrealistic) ideas of a “perfect world” that we try to work towards. As you already know, we live in an imperfect world with imperfect people, so our ideals will usually never come to fruition.
Also, God historically and presently uses unideal situations and people to accomplish his will and bring about good in the world. Take Paul, for example. Who would’ve thought that a guy who literally hunted down Christians would convert to Christ, be constantly on the run, walk straight to his death, and become one of the greatest apostles the world has ever seen? It was as unideal as you can get, but God miraculously used Paul for His glory.
As for me, because of the rainy day, I really rested. I wasn’t caught up with going places and seeing everything. I played board games, read a book and just did nothing. As unideal as that day was, God used it to give me a much needed break from being busy.
God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9), and what seems unideal to us may just be His ideal means to work through and for us.