I like to plan. I always have and probably always will.
When it comes to January, I find turning the calendar page from past year to new year exciting. Following 2023, which was filled with more downs than ups, I was eager to start 2024 with more stability and happiness. The week before January 1, I broke out my new planner and started writing down my vacations, appointments, family birthdays, and everything in between. There was so much hope and excitement that I could hardly stand it!
Little did I know it would only take a few days for many of those perfectly structured and organized plans to go amiss.
By the third week of the year, “Snowmageddon,” as the locals so lovingly called it, hit our little town. Now, I know for you Northerners, 8 inches of snow is nothing, but down here in northeast Mississippi, it’s enough to halt traffic for at least seven days. Then, following the storm, we discovered a busted water pipe that would cause us issues for two weeks – canceling even more events!
Suffice it to say, my January was any “Type-A” gal’s worst nightmare. By the time February 1 arrived, I could easily say that I wasn’t impressed by 2024 and desperately wanted to know why I had wasted so much time fine-tuning my monthly schedules only to have them completely crash within the first 31 days of the year.
But as I flipped the page of my coveted calendar – now covered in strikethroughs and erased plans – a verse popped into my mind that I had learned years ago.
It was Proverbs 3:5-6, and it says,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
I don’t know about you, but the Lord is rarely subtle in His hints to me. With those two verses, He reminded me that I am not now, nor was I ever, the one in control. The problem with making strict plans is that they were never ours to make.
Every breath we breathe reflects the grace granted to us by our Heavenly Father. In an instant, it could all be gone or taken away. And I believe that He is willing to use any methods necessary to accomplish His will and plans. But in the meantime, He gives us the choice to trust Him or ignore what He has set before us.
According to Merriam-Webster, trust is defined as “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something."
Like a trust-fall exercise, the word trust means that we must lean on others and trust that they will catch and meet us with hope and truth. When we trust the Lord with every detail in our lives – including our mundane plans and appointments – we believe He will use them for His glory. If we don’t, we are subjecting ourselves to potential hurt and pain.
As the Psalmist points out, we, under no circumstance, can trust our understanding. Instead, it is following God’s plans that will lead us in the right direction. If it weren’t for Him, there would be no days to enjoy.
Today, instead of stressing over what plans you may have or the ones you have missed due to uncontrollable circumstances, I hope that you will remember the words found in Matthew 6:34:
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
P.S. I do think it’s beneficial to keep track of upcoming events. I still use my trusty planner but with a little more awareness of my Father’s ultimate goal.
