The Sierra stream I left
Three Sierra trips make up my plans for each year: May, mid-summer, and mid-fall. But the2018 spring trip gave way to hosting our granddaughter’s rehearsal dinner and getting ready for family. Summer got eliminated by a 6,700 mile motorcycle ride, including an Iron Butt ride of 1,080 miles in 16 hours. As fall drew close, I desperately needed a mountain fix, so I planned a six-day trip, leaving Sunday morning and getting home Friday evening, for five fishing days. That avoids the crowded weekends and eliminates some traffic. But around the time I left, our son-in-law’s brother Bob passed. One of the good guys, we’d shared a lot of time at family gatherings. His service was set for Friday, so I still took the planned trip. But, I flexed, leaving a few days early. As much as I love time in the mountains, I value people and their lives more.
And the truth imbedded in Proverbs 16:9 struck home, “The human mind plans the way, but the LORD directs the steps.” I think God’s fine with our planning. Plans bring us goals so we craft a strategy to reach them. I like the old line, “If you plan on nothing, you’re bound to hit it.” I confess, I never really master planned my life. Oh, I’d go to college, get a job, be responsible. But I never went into depth to carefully choose a career, a type of spouse, and all. Yes, I thought about these, and probably would have benefitted from more detailed plans. But like with Bob, sometimes our best thought out plans need flexibility. Circumstances can intervene. God can intervene.
Perhaps, planning so closely so we can defiantly determine our destiny can be a sign of insecurity—we want to safely know the future. Sometimes, it can be hubris, a spiritual arrogance that says “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,” as we read in Henley’s famous poem “Invictus.”
Very simply, God seems to see that as a challenge to his authority. “And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, ‘Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.’ You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, ‘If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.’ As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil” (James 4:13-16, The Message).
In the calculus of life, we truly know little. Weather can change our carefully laid out plans. Natural disasters. The choices of others. And most importantly, our plans drawn by our finite and small minds know so little of what God may be working on. I like the qualifier in James. Yes, plan. But hold them with a loose grip with no ego involved, and leave room for God to be God.
Kick Starting the Application
Where are you on the planning spectrum? Do you plan? Do you hold on firmly to them? Loosely? Do you have the attitude, “God willing?”