Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day ( Tuesday 12/28/2010)

The Best Laid Plans…

Proverbs 19:20-21 (New Living Translation)

²⁰ Get all the advice and instruction you can,
      so you will be wise the rest of your life.

²¹ You can make many plans,
      but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.

            Many of us at the close of a year begin to plan for the next year.  We begin to think of all the things that we can do differently and all the things we want to accomplish.  We cover everything from diet and exercise to financial plans and career paths.  Some of us have family mission statements and family goals for the year.  But as I found out this past year the best laid plans can sometimes be what does not transpire. We can write it out, make graphs and charts and still not know about the elements that are unexpected, that can cause our best laid plans to fall apart or become delayed indefinitely.  How do we handle it when things do not go as planned?

            In these finally weeks of this year I have talked to a few of my girlfriends and relatives that have been ready to throw up hands and say forget it in some ways because the plan that they had for their lives has run amuck, or taken some turns that they were far from ready for. But the one thing many of them have failed to see, is that even though they were things that they planned for; they were not necessarily in God’s will or the person that they were planning their future with was not the one that God had intended for them to share those things or moments with.  We have to understand that many times when we lay out a plan that it is subject to change without any advance notice or approval from us or to us. I am by no means saying that planning is bad or that we need to neglect to plan, but we need to be able to be ready for alterations and adjustments.  They are bond to come even when we have done all that we can to be prepared for every possibility that may come. We often get caught up in the planning process and forget about the God’s purpose and His process to get us where He wants us in the timing that He wants us there. We forget that we ultimately are not running the show but God is and He is going to have His way and get His perfect work out of us; even if it kills us (our flesh mainly).

            Understanding the purpose of a plan and what it is for will help us in being able to see that plan is a best case scenario and not always do situations lend themselves to the best case; because all too often what is our best case is not God’s.  What He has in store is far from matching up to what we planned out and have outlined for ourselves. Learning to allow God room to be who He is (which is our guide) will keep us from being disappointed, when things that we plan do not manifest.  When we understand the ways of God we will understand the best laid plans are often laid out of what we know and understand and God’s purpose is often none of what we understand and little of what we know. Understand that planning has its place, but God’s purpose is by design and it is the thing that should prevail!