Summer schedules. To-do lists. Time to reorganize, rearrange, and restore.
Like many of you, I’m an excessive planner. Even in the summertime. I like to know what’s coming and what to expect. I write things down; I fill in calendars. Multiple calendars. I go over plans in my head. I schedule months in advance. I check off boxes and go on to the next thing. It’s a good system. Most of the time.
Every once in a while, God will interrupt the perfectly organized structure of my life and tell me His plan is better. I don’t always like that. It might not have been written down like that. It wasn’t in the plan in my mind. My calendar might have to have things crossed out or new things added; it’s no longer nice and neat. It puts kinks in the rest of the way I want the plot of my life to play out. My way.
“All my life You have been faithful….”
Then there are the times that I try to figure out God’s plan, like it’s a game of Clue. Ok, I’m supposed to be at this job in the Conservatory, or I’m supposed to connect with this person, Professor Plumb, or I am meant to have this blessing, the candlestick. So, I keep playing, but when the cards are revealed, I find that I was wrong. It was Miss Scarlett with a wrench, and I still wait for the room….The doors I try to open close. Or sometimes they’re even slammed shut!
“All my life You have been so, so good….”
Then, there are the times that I surrender to God. I will admit (sometimes through gritted teeth) that I know His way is best. I pray for discernment to understand what I am to learn and know how to become obedient to His direction. I pray for strength to let go of the control and watch Him work through me. I pray that my heart will align to His will, so I will no longer have to compare my way to His way.
“With every breath that I am able….”
No matter what approach I take or what situation transpires, I am ALWAYS BLESSED by His goodness. Every. Single. Time. We say all the time “God is good” and “His way is better”, but to say it and to know it are two different things. When we have experienced this over and over again and are fully aware that all that is good has come from Him over and over again, we know God is good. We can trust that His way is better, always!
“Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God …”
So, I continue to make plans and schedule all the things. But, I also pray that He guides my steps and that I see His hands in all I do. I pray for His will to be done, and that I am able to live out His purpose for my life. And, I am so, so grateful for the hope He gives me, the faithfulness He has proven to me, the way He continues to show me His grace, and most of all, how He loves me!
“All my life You have been faithful,
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God!”
(“Goodness of God”, Bethel Music, 2019)