Making Plans

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

When our children were in elementary school, we wrote a family constitution, with their help, and updated it annually. It included our family mission statement, values for how we would treat one another and goals for each of us for the following year. Even though they now have families of their own, Ken and I still make our annual goals and plans for the two of us. Our priorities are focused on our relationship with Jesus, one another and our family. We pray and seek the heart of God to help us craft plans that are dependent on Him.

Proverbs 19:21 says:

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it’s the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs is often called “wisdom literature,” and there is a lot of wisdom in that proverb! But the Bible has more than just wisdom literature to remind us that God’s purpose prevails. James is a very short book, but warrants slow reading and meditation, a few verses at a time. The Christians he was writing to were fighting and quarreling, everyone after whatever it takes to get what they wanted. In the fourth chapter of James, the focus turns to the arrogance of planning for our own success without acknowledging that we are dependent on God.  

In James 4:13-15, he writes:

Look here, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” (NLT)

It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make plans.

As we make plans, we should do so with an absolute dependence on Jesus. The focus of our plans should include loving God and others well.

Two action steps for you:  

1. If you haven’t put into practice goal setting and making annual plans for you (and your family), this would be a great time to begin to plan for 2022. If you have elementary aged and above children, there is something extremely powerful in establishing a family constitution and setting goals for your family. It unites you!

1. I had a mentor who ended saying what her plans were with “Lord willing.” When you put that into practice, it becomes a reminder that God is in control and you’re not!

PS - If you have any questions about what a family constitution looks like, let me know! I’d love to tell you more about it!

Pastor Pam

‍