Proverbs 19:21

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

Proverbs 19:21

I’m all for planning.

When I work with my clients, we create plans. Marketing plans. Editorial calendars. Content strategies. Sales projections. Lots and lots of plans.

As a Mom, I find myself doing the same thing. Who needs to be where, and when? How will I manage to be 3 places at once, or who’s drawing the short end of the stick this time?

It’s always something… My ever-growing To Do lists reflect that.

I’ve actually begun to nervously wonder if the next time I update my will I should leave at least one or two of them to someone; just to make sure they don’t get forgotten.

My friend, Mark, parcels his tasks out among his To Do list, his To Do Two list and his To Do Two Too list. (That may be funnier when you see how it’s written…)

Maybe I should create my To Do Today list. My To Do Next Week list, as well as a few others, followed by the granddaddy of all lists, my To Do Before You Meet Jesus list.

What do you think?

I don’t know… The problem is, who would I leave it to? Who’d care enough about my To Do list to actually do anything on it?

Many are the plans in a person’s heart. That’s not just my heart… I bet some of you have quite a few plans as well! Let’s see a show of hands. Who expects to complete their lists before they’re gone?

The biggest problem with my To Do lists is sometimes they obscure the important stuff. I’m so busy trying to do what I think just has to be done that I miss out on what God had planned. Thankfully though, He forgives me. And ultimately, it’s his purpose that prevails.

He created me for a purpose, and He did you too. Part of that purpose may be to write.

What words has He placed on your heart to share? What stories can only be related by you? What lessons can others learn from, but only if you have the courage to write them all down?

I think of the many men who set aside some portion of their lives to write down the words in the most precious book of all time. I wonder what it was like for them.

When I’m driving down the road and an idea comes to me, I get out my recorder and start dictating notes so that I don’t lose anything.

Yet, Moses didn’t have that option. And I’m sure it wasn’t very easy to bring scrolls and inks out to the field while he watched the sheep. He probably stayed up at night, writing by candlelight, rushing to write down the words that God was filling his heart with, trying to keep up.

As a writer, I just love those times, when the words start pouring out. It’s all you can do to keep up with them. How much more difficult would that have been if I’d had to slow down and actually write them out physically, rather than typing them on my laptop or dictating them on my iPad…

Yet God’s purpose remains the same. We are His hands and feet, just as Moses and so many others were. As He gives us stories that must be told, lessons that must be shared, and insights that are meant for others, we must write, no matter what our plans were.

Plans are guidelines. It’s what we think we’re supposed to be doing… The next time you sit down to write, stop. Take a moment to pray and then listen. What is it that God wants to you write today? You might just be surprised…