Plans ...

Remember when we were young ... hanging out with friends ... doing whatever young people do.  For us, back in the day when there were only three network channels on the television ... no computers ... no video games ... no cell phones ... faced with a whole day with nothing but our imagination to guide us ... we would take a walk ... go to the mall ... congregate in the McDonald's parking lot ...

... and try to figure out what to do next ... that would be fun & interesting.

Not much has changed ... well, except for all of the distractions ... and the locations ...

We still spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do next ... that will be fun & interesting ... and we talk it over with our friends ...

Anyway, we would spend all day out in the neighborhood & decide that the best plan was for everyone to sleep over at one house or another ... an all-nighter of a-plottn' & a-plannin' ...

At home, though, our parents had "other" plans ... for us.  So in the end ... we would do what they had planned instead of what we cooked up on our own.

You know, that's one of the reasons we have parents ... to teach us important lessons ... early on ... so that we don't get crossed up later in life.

The lesson here was simple: Don't make plans without checking them out at home first.

Lesson learned ... NOT!

Somehow we don't seem to learn some of those lessons ... the first time ... the second time ... the one-hundred-millionth time ...

Last week I had a great visit with a friend that I haven't seen in quite sometime ... think it might have even been a year ... time sure does fly ... when you're ... busy.

She said, "Last time we talked you were launching your consulting company ... tell me what's you've been doing the past year."

My jaw dropped.  I just stared at her.  Then I said, "You REALLY want to know what I've been doing for the past year?!?!" 

Amazing. Truth is, I know that she really DID want to know all about it.  *sigh*

Where to start.

A year or so ago ... I embarked on a new adventure.  I had given it a lot of thought.  I had prayed about it.  And I had plan.  I even wrote it down.

And I started working that plan ... and it was working!

Then God said, "Hey, MJ!  Go over there. Do that. I know you have a plan but, guess what?!?!  I have OTHER plans for you!"

You see, even though I had checked with Him when I started down the new path ... I got so caught up in the journey that I forgot to check with Him along the way.  Of course, once He pointed out that "detour" sign over there, I knew there was no doubt that I was going to take it.

That's one lesson I HAVE learned ... that whatever God has planned for me is going to be far more amazing than anything I could ever dream up on my own ... even with the help of my friends!

So for about an hour, I caught her up on all that had been going on with me.  The conversation was peppered with ... oh, and this happened ... yeah, well, that's another story ... still she got the overview ... the big picture ...

Then it was her turn.  She began to share what was going on with her.  She had been making progress, too. 

And, yep, she had made a plan!

Hers was a story of an amazing few days she spent in dialogue with her best friend, God.  She shared what was in her heart & asked for His direction. 

He didn't let her down.

At the end of her sojourn, she had a plan ... a written plan ... with His fingerprints all over it.

She shared it with others who are close to her.  And then she started putting it into play.  And things were coming along nicely.  Maybe a little slower than she would have liked ... we are always in such a hurry to get where we are going ... after all ...

God is never in a hurry.

Then life started getting in the way ... of her plan ... she had roadblocks ... distractions ... maybe even a setback or two.  I am not sure because she was giving me the Reader's Digest version, too. 

Still, somehow, things weren't going ... according to HER plan ...

Imagine that!

So she has had to go back ... to regroup ... to say, "Hey, God, I told you what I wanted to do & you said sure go ahead ... so why the delay?!?!"

... and God is shaking  His head ... at her ... at me ... and He is smiling ...the "original" smile that lights up the universe ...

*sigh* ... smiles that light up the universe ... another lesson learned ... another story ...

Sure.  He LIKES our plans.  He even inspired the crafting of them. 

But no matter how hard we try ... or how many times we ask Him ... there's simply no way that we can get it just right ... without any changes ... life doesn't work that way.

We make our plans ... go about our business ... making the choices that need to be made ... to move forward. 

Heck, we can even make GOOD choices ... the RIGHT choices ... and, still, things don't turn out the way we planned.

That's because life always involves other people.  It's all about relationships.  And those other people ... they have plans, too.  And they also get to make their own choices. 

And not everyone checks in to see if their plans are lined up with His plans.

So there we are ... traveling down our road ... with our compass & our map ... our plan securely in place ... when suddenly we encounter a scarecrow ... or a lion ... or a tin man ...

That wasn't really part of our plan ... it wasn't really part of their plans, either ...

And next thing you know ... our plans ... collide with their plans ... and that's when His plan begins to unfold ...

www.lifelessons-mj.blogspot.com
(c) Mary Jane Sawyer, 2010