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<\/i>A man\u2019s heart plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps.<\/i> ~Proverbs 16:9<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, I was cleaning the toilet, taking down a mildew ridden shower curtain and throwing it in the wash, and other general scrubbing. Not because that was my plan. But because my plan got thwarted.<\/p>\n
As a Pastor\u2019s wife, I\u2019m learning to deal with thwarted plans more often. I don\u2019t mind terribly. Errrr<\/i>\u00a0\u2026 usually. Unless I\u2019ve just set a big meal on the table and Shaun has to run out the door. That can be irritating and disappointing.<\/p>\n
Most of my life, I\u2019ve been taught to plan and stick to the plan because that qualifies as discipline and the Bible commands discipline and order. This is true. We are to do things decently and in order. Spiritual disciplines are a must if we want to grow our faith. Other disciplines are a must if we want to keep a job, run a house, raise kids. But here\u2019s the thing:<\/p>\n
Christianity is not about living by a rule book. It\u2019s about living in a relationship with our Savior.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Our need for structure is real. Especially for people who have the tendency to whittle away time and energy on useless activities. But in all our orderly planning and structure, I fear we lose flexibility. More than that, I fear we lose freedom and ability to love and be loved by our Savior, because our relationship with Him becomes rule based, rather than faith based. We take working out our own salvation too far, and in all our working and striving, we forget that God is the one who works in us to will<\/i> and to do<\/i> in the first place (Phil. 2:12-13). We forget the Source of our strength. And we lose sight of the fact that we are working for His<\/i> good pleasure. Not for our glory. Or money. Or notoriety. Or whatever god our heart chooses to worship.<\/p>\n
Every day, I have a mental plan. I say, \u201cThis is what I\u2019ll do. This is where I\u2019ll go.\u201d And very, very often, God will say, \u201cNo. This<\/i> is what you\u2019ll do. This<\/i> is where you\u2019ll go.\u201d If I let myself, and if my health was better, my tendency would be to become a workaholic. I come from a long line of folks who pride themselves on back breaking, blister oozing self-sufficiency, and it\u2019s easy for me, when interruptions come along, to say, \u201cOutta my way. Work trumps all.\u201d That\u2019s why we have to balance \u201cworking out our salvation\u201d with \u201clove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d We have to read the entire chapter of Philippians 2, not just the part about how hard we work. We are to be unified through humility. We are to exalt Christ and not ourselves. We are to be light bearers, doing all things without complaining and disputing \u2013 even if those things are not what we had penciled in our calendars.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard. So my plans earlier in the week was to grill hamburgers for Shaun on a lovely Spring and visit with him over lunch on the back deck. But was I going to say that our homey little date was more important than a young girl\u2019s questions about Mormonism? Of course not. Go, honey. Answer that girl\u2019s questions. I\u2019ll clean the potty and pray for clarity and finely tuned hearts<\/i>.<\/p>\n
God is our Father. And fathers boss around their children. Children don\u2019t always understand, but children always need to obey. So, in all our planning to make ourselves more godly, let\u2019s not forget that being godly often means setting aside our plans and wishes, hope and dreams, and following a complicated, unpredictable, often times confusing, but all-knowing, all-wise God.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a matter of faith and flexibility.<\/p>\n
And it just comes down to who or what is Lord.<\/p>\n
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A man\u2019s heart plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. ~Proverbs 16:9 Earlier this week, I was cleaning the toilet, taking down a mildew ridden shower curtain and throwing it in the wash, and other general scrubbing. Not because that was my plan. But because my plan got thwarted. As a Pastor\u2019s wife, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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