Approved Plans

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:14-15 NLT

Fourteen or fifteen years ago, a very dear friend of mine was coming to visit, so I laid out a plan. Things I wanted to accomplish before she arrived. My course of action started as planned for Friday afternoon and into Saturday morning, but it soon blossomed into one of those “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” moments…

Are you familiar with those? The reference is from the children’s book of the same name, but basically, the premise is that giving a mouse a cookie when he asks for one is never all there is to it. You can give him the cookie, but then he’ll want or need a glass of milk and a napkin and on it goes from there. It is quite entertaining as a child’s book, but not so much fun when it happens in real life. It can wreak havoc with your plans.

I put a loveseat in one of the rooms of my house and I loved it, but then the room seemed to be off center and some of the other furniture needed to move to fix it... So I had to take ALL of my books off the bookshelving. (Do you know how many books you can stack on 30 feet of shelving?) In moving the books, I realized that a couple had fallen behind the shelf and on their way down had put a rip in the window covering, and as I went to repair that, I realized it was beyond repair and needed to be replaced before I could reset the shelves and the books. That was not in my time plan.

I had planned pretty much every minute of that Saturday, including breaks and a visit to Linda, another dear friend, who at that time was battling cancer. I was moving right along with my plans Saturday morning when Linda's husband called and I headed to their house. I'd been believing for a miracle - that was my plan - and I realized when I arrived that I needed to re-think my plans. I waited with Linda and her husband until the medical van came to transport her to the hospice hospital.

By Sunday night, I was back on task and on my schedule. On Monday, during lunch, I planned my evening and what I would accomplish on my planned list, when God intervened and after work, I found myself heading to the other side of Houston to visit Linda at the hospital. Ever the multi-tasker, I figured I'd get a visit in with my brother while I was on that side of town. So I planned to stay about an hour with Linda, then meet my brother, and head home from there, but then I heard myself repeating aloud to Linda's family what the Holy Spirit was whispering to me, "I'll be back after I see my brother." Mentally, I was calculating the time left in the evening that I might continue with MY plans... then figuratively speaking, I got hit between the eyes with our Scripture reference for today.

And bless His holy Name, I actually listened. In the eternal weight of life, it will never matter if my bookshelves needed to be moved 8 inches one way or the other because I find absolutely NO Scripture basis or precedence for it. However, I have not yet found the end of the list of Scriptures which command that I love as He loves, that a friend loves at all times, that I treat others as I would want to be treated with lovingkindness, and that what is within my power to give is to be given willingly, cheerfully, lovingly... 

Plans, shmlans...How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What we ought to say is,“If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Then and only then, will we have the opportunity to follow His plan for us to be His hand extended. The hand that holds the hand of the one taking her last breath on this side of forever.

If you're making plans, make a plan to submit them for approval to the Master Planner. He'll find any mistakes and correct them before the errors are set in stone.

Prayer:

Father,
            Thank You for being such a kind and Holy God and Father. Thank You for Your peace and Your miraculous love. Please alter our plans as You see fit as we submit them to You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen