Don't Over-Plan Your Life

When I was preparing to graduate college, I was applying to jobs in Utah, Alabama, Florida, and everything in between. I was ready to go far beyond the Cincinnati area and experience a new place. I had a plan to go away and live somewhere for about 10 years before returning to a city within a weekend drive of my hometown. Unfortunately, my stomach had other plans - and it required me to seek treatment before spreading my wings. In the midst of that, I started dating a wonderful woman named Jackie, and we got married about a year and a half later. Something that would likely not have happened had I taken off and lived in Utah.

Life rarely goes the exact way we think it will. We often try to plan and organize it, and even if we don’t like to plan, we still like to take control. The truth is, we need both surrender and preparation. It’s a balance I wrestle with, because it's hard to be open-minded and still plan for challenges ahead. There’s lots of proverbs that mention the importance of preparing and being diligent in our work, so it would be unbiblical to say we have zero control. Here’s an interesting passage on this topic from the book of James:

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (4:13-15)

Here’s what’s important: it is foolish to boast about tomorrow when you can’t predict tomorrow. We can plan, organize, and envision all we want, but God may have other plans. He may take us to the exact opposite location, person, or job that we are expecting. From hearing personal stories, this is usually when people say something like, “God has a sense of humor.” Maybe he does or doesn’t, but he is certainly in control. We need to be open to the fact that our planning may take us to the exact place we were thinking or somewhere completely surprising.

Life is so short, we don’t need to waste time overplanning. Maybe it’s better to just start doing. As pastor Jonathan Pokluda puts it, “God tells us the how and why, not the what and where.” He gives us all the ways to live life, but the part we often question the most is what we do and where we do it. Maybe God will lead us to that exact answer if we start by living by his will. If we follow the principles and truths written in his Word, he might make known to us the work of his mysterious will. Don’t waste too much time starting because a mist only lasts for so long.