Reflecting on my strategy


Here’s my usual routine: I make a plan, plunge in headfirst, do everything in my power to make it work, and then I wait. The waiting is the hardest part. Sometimes it seems like life is on hold while I wait. Why must something that is so right have to wait so long to happen? There’s no easy answer.

I have waited for some of my plans to work out that never do. Then other times things happen that I didn’t plan. Both situations challenge me.

In my 20’s, when facing many critical, life-altering choices, I had everything figured out. I absolutely knew what needed to happen. I knew my plans would work. But I waited & waited to see it happen. In the darkness of failure, I was humbled…. repeatedly.

Yet, I revisited my plan-making ability as a parent. Once again, I formulated what needed to happen in my children’s lives. Even when they were older, I KNEW what was best for them. I reasoned that I had the wisdom they probably lacked. And again I waited for MY plans to work.

I still struggle with making plans. Note pad in hand, I just figure it all out. So my challenge this week has been to review my success rate.

My tendency has always been to plan first THEN ask God to bless it. How did it really work out? I stumbled and was humbled--often. My age is catching up to me and slowing down the action plans. Now I see that praying first has advantages.
I wonder if I had thought about this 30 years ago how much it would have helped.

But God knew I didn’t have it figured out yet—and that’s probably why some plans had to wait. It's kind of a scary thought if ALL of my plans had actually worked….

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