In the Moment

I should have known better.  It wasn't as if it hasn't happened 100 times before.  I lay the plans.  I plan for days and months, for the perfect scenario.  It all seemed exactly the way I wanted it.   Lists upon lists, emails upon emails, texts upon texts - all leading up to the "big event".  I thought about hiring a caterer to do the cooking, but "I can do the cooking better".  I thought about asking for help, but "I didn't want to bother anyone."  I thought about . . .  oh, it's just easier when I do it myself.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?  I have spoken with enough people to know that I am not the only one out there who believes the best laid plans produce perfect results.  I am also not the only person who has been taught otherwise by God!  Planning isn't a bad thing.  In fact, it's good to have a plan or a course of action.  It's also important that the plan is set with our eyes on Jesus.  That can be a piece of the equation that I sometimes forget.  I get something in my head and keep pushing forward, not asking God for His help along the way.

When the plans I make get averted, my typical response is to fret and to be disturbed by the inconvenience of my plans not going my way.  Yet, I am learning.  I am realizing that being in the moment, whatever that moment provides, is so much more rewarding than a "plan going right".  Being in the moment that God has provided has proven much richer than my plans being executed.

I thought about Jesus on his "plan making".  Yes, God knows the ultimate plan for each of us.  Yet, when Jesus' plan would go array, it didn't stop him from his mission.  No food for 5,000?  Not a problem - fish and bread it is!  People wanting to be with him when he was tired?  Not a problem - there is time for everyone.  Someone needing to be healed on the Sabbath?  Not a problem - healing was more important than any rule.  Jesus lived in the moment, up until his last moment on Earth.  

Being in the moment provides us the ability to truly relate to those around us.  Enjoying who you are with and why you are with them is far stronger than the perfect meal or the perfect experience.  I am starting to realize that the "being" is far greater than the "planning".  Expectations of perfection will always leave us short.  Experiencing the moment will always fill us up.

Next time plans take a side step to what we expected, let us all not focus on what is NOT happening, but what IS happening - the plan that God wanted all along.  I'm learning to smile during those moments and say, "Thank you God" versus "Why God?"  The answer is so much sweeter!

Dearest Lord, thank you for your gentle reminders that your plans are far greater than mine.  As I make plans for the future - whether small or large events - may I connect with you first and ask for guidance.  Please provide me the insight that only you can.  In your name I pray, Amen!