In the secular world, wise people will tell you how to run your life. They’ll tell you that in order to succeed you need a 1, 5 and 10 year plan. That you need to write that plan down, and that you need to work toward the goals you established when doing it. Very few people succeed by accident – most are working toward something specific.
For 10 years, and with satisfactory success, we followed that advice. In fact, one of our first conversations together as a couple – even before we were married – was planning. We worked hard toward our goals, sacrificed, and accomplished pretty much everything we set out to get: 2.5 children, a house, a succession of better jobs, travel and adventure, and adequate financial stability.
For the last 2 years, I’ve been disconcerted that we haven’t had a plan. Our plan went as far as New York, and we weren’t really sure what was supposed to happen next.
In the past couple months, during which we’ve still had no set 1, 5 or 10 year plan, its occurred to me that despite this missing, and apparently key, part of our lives, things have unfolded pretty well anyway. And I’ve begun to wonder if maybe it’s not the planning that’s responsible at all. That maybe things happened not because of us, but despite us.
Maybe the key thing we need in life isn’t a plan. Maybe it’s obedience.
I’ll have more to say on this in future posts… we’ll make a series out of it.