Every year at Christmastime, I ask for a new planner. I love to organize my days and have everything neatly laid out. This is especially important as my husband and I have had a child this year. It has joyfully added a new layer of appointments, play dates, and family outings to our already busy calendar.
As much as I can do all the forethought and work to plan out our days, I know that life doesn’t always work this way, especially with a small child. If this is true, how then do we wisely plan while also trusting God with the outcome?
Proverbs gives great insight into what a life of wisdom looks like. Proverbs 16 speaks directly into this exact dilemma in life.
God is the one who is orchestrating our days. Now, this doesn’t give us license to be completely hands off and see what each day may bring. There is benefit to being thoughtful and planning. However, if we are so close-fisted to our way and plans, we will be greatly disappointed and miss out on the beauty of God’s plans.
As with most things in life, there is a balance. God’s desire is not for us to be robots who have no say into our lives. Rather, He wants us to be faithful, diligently seeking His wisdom and His way.
For mature Christians, it’s the ability to say, “Not my will but yours, O Lord.” It’s going to God first and asking Him to guide our decision-making process. It’s looking for opportunities to be interrupted to be on mission for Him. It’s being willing to pivot at a moment’s notice to step in and help a person in need.
The life of a believer is one that fully trusts that God’s way is best. A life with Him will be full of surprises, but it is worth it.
Where are you today? Are you someone that lives with a “go-with-the-flow” mentality that could honestly use a little more structure and planning? Maybe your next step is to ask God how He would help you be more thoughtful in how you spend your time or the things that you say yes or no to.
When there is a lack of planning, it can easily lead to wasting our time for lack of vision and priorities. God may be calling you to say yes to a new serving opportunity. If you don’t have a clear grasp on where your time is going during the week, it could lead you to a place of not fulfilling your commitments or letting your yes be yes.
This week, sit down and write out what your typical days look like. Ask God to give you wisdom on if you are truly spending your time on mission for Him. Ask a trusted, believing friend to speak into this as well.
Maybe you are on the opposite side of the spectrum where every moment of your day down to the minute is planned out. Though this can help alleviate some of the chaos of life, being so rigid can lead to missing out on the God-moments that can come our way. If you are so focused on picking up your kids from school and getting to the next three events, you may miss the opportunity to begin building a friendship with that mom who doesn’t know Jesus.
This week, ask God to help you see opportunities to be interrupted, to slow down, and to be flexible with where He would have you go and do during the day.
The writer of Proverbs 16 tells us to commit our plans to the Lord. By doing this, God isn’t obligated to do what we want. Instead, we are open-handedly giving our days and time to God, knowing that where He leads is the best place for us to be.
