My Best Laid Plans

I'm a planner. I like things to go the way I plan them to be. I like to be able to line up the contingencies, make sure I have all the supplies needed, the right clothes, the right snacks, the right information, that I've done the research, etc. My husband found this out early on when he couldn't plan a surprise honeymoon. What can I say, I'm a "need to know'er".

Planning is a good thing and even necessary (if you've ever been to a party or an event that wasn't planned well, you know this is true). But sometimes our own planning takes a turn to the "control-side" of things. Wanting to constantly plan and to be in control of your own life can be deterimental because it falsely leads us believe in solely in ourselves - that we are the master's of our fate. But this is false - we are the created, we are not the Creator. We deceive ourselves by believing anything different.

Many may read this and say to themselves, "well, that's stupid to give over control of your life to some far off deity that may or may not exist". In some ways, I completely agree. To give over your best laid plans and control to a god that is "far off" and "doesn't even exist" wouldn't be the best investment. And no one should submit themselves to a god that doesn't have "plans to prosper [them] and not to harm [them], plans to give [them] a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). But the God I serve is not "far off" - he will never leave or forsake me. And I know he exists. And He definitely wants to prosper me, to give me a hope and a future, because he did so by sending his Son to die on the cross for my sins so that I may have eternal life with him. (By the way, prospering doesn't mean making me rich in the worldly sense, but in the spiritual sense...but that's a whole other blog.) But don't take my word for it. God says that "you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13; see also Acts 17:26-28).

As a believer in Jesus Christ I am told that I am to place my trust in Him, and lean not on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). And I know I am not really the "planner here". Proverbs 16:9 says, "In his heart, a man plans his course. But the Lord determines his steps. " And praise God for that!!! I like to think I have the best laid plans, that my way is the "right" way. But Proverbs 14:12 tells me that "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." If all my life's plans had come to fruition, my life would look very different today, and likely not for the better.

So for me, I try to toss my best laid plans at the throne of Jesus Christ - for I am not my own (Romans 14:8, Galations 2:20).