So many times my ideas seem to be the right way to go, but then changes come. I can be upset or just go with the flow. I know in my mind that there are things out there that I cannot see, situations that will be there as the time unfolds, that I would not have seen or been involved in if I had insisted on going my way regardless.
It is like that last Sunday morning at the pier. Until I looked behind me, away from the sunrise that I was trying to photograph, did I see something spectacular. Too many times I plan ahead because I "know" the best way for things to work out, just like that sunrise shot, then look back and realize something much better has happened, a thing that was not at all on my radar.
My youngest son put a post on Facebook Sunday, telling the world (or at least that part that has him for a "friend" on their pages) of his accomplishment in completing a half marathon that morning. He was proud of his time and the fact that he could run the 13.1 miles and not die. I commented on his picture and asked if he had lost weight during his training. Maybe so and maybe not, he did not say, but it made me think way back to my days of running.
I began running back in the 70s. My oldest son was a good runner in high school and college and I wanted to be able to run with him sometimes (if he would condescend to slow down for me). My plan was just to run a bit, get in better shape and do something with him. But I got the bug and began longer distances and times. I started out with a 3 minute jog and continued on a schedule, a little bit more each week, that allowed me to run a full marathon in the 80s ( a story for another day). I had fun and my plan was working, but there was an unexpected and unplanned for surprise in all of this. Not only did I feel better but I managed to lose about 50 pounds in the process.
So, as I looked back, I realized that God had more in His plan than I did in mine, and His plan was much better than mine, even though they were comprised of some of the same things. This verse comes to mind from Isaiah:
"“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord."
One translation uses the word plan for ways, and it seems to fit.
Sometimes my plans seem to be radically changed. Sometimes the path is not the one I would choose on my own, and sometimes the outcome is not what I had in mind although the path seemed the same. Then I think of another verse. From Jeremiah this time:
" For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
I rode my bike to the tennis courts this morning, under a cloudy sky with thunder rumbling, and only got in one game before the storm came. I wanted to play, it is fun and good exercise, but I remembered the verses and thought "wonder what this new path will look like today?"
I know I have to plan. There is just no profit in floating along, but then I need to commit these prospective plans to God, not to get Him to bless my plans, but to let Him have the freedom to change or tweak them as He knows best.
I read, after I got home from the aborted game, these words in Jesus Calling:
"You will not find My peace by engaging in excessive planning, attempting to control what will happen to you in the future. Commit everything into My care. Turn from the path of planning to the path of peace."
My path and His may run along the same way, or they may be completely different, but I know which is the better one. His has the signposts that point in the direction of blessing.
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