The best laid plans...

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley" 
Paraphrase - "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"

Are you a planner? 
If so - does it sometimes feel like "why bother"?
Or are you an anti-planner?

Well - yesterday things did not go according to plan.
My plan, that is.

The Greyhound bus that my wife and son were supposed to take had mechanical problems and would have missed their Dallas connection.
They had to reschedule for a different bus that afternoon (with three other buses needed to get them to their eventual destination).  

My brother called and said our mom was taken to the hospital in an ambulance after falling off a ladder.  (BTW - it wasn't a ladder, and she is back home and going to be fine)

Our rock band at work was going to play a picnic today so I tore down and loaded the drum kit into my vehicle.  And the picnic is now cancelled due to rain.

Why bother planning?
Why does it bother me?

Ah - that's the better question.
It bothers me because I thought my plans were the most important.
AND that I had control.
Nope.

Planning is the Lord's department - which he makes abundantly clear to me in his Word.
A couple of many examples...
- Jeremiah 29:11-13 - "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to  prosper you and not to harm you..."
- Matthew 6:25-34 - "Look at the birds of the air...See how the flowers of the field grow...Do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself."
- Luke 12:6-7 - "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one of them is forgotten by God"
Got any more?  Drop it into the comments.

That doesn't mean that God advocates me to do "no planning".
Especially when it comes to his children.
He wants me to remember His plan (for salvation of everyone in the world) first.
And for me to make my plans with that purpose in mind.

Anything else I plan and attempt without that - ends up being "meaningless, meaningless" (see Ecclesiastes 1)
Chasing after the wind.

Oh Lord,
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds,
And drives away our fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole
And calms the heart's unrest;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul
And to the weary, rest.

Amen.
(How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds)

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