I’ve heard much recently about having “a five year plan”. In fact, I recently began the application process for a position which asked for my “five year plan”. I stopped there. My mind’s eye saw a huge red sign at the intersection with four capital letters; STOP.
What do we do at intersections?
We slow down. Come to a complete stop. Scan for hazards, pedestrians, and on-coming traffic. Look left, right, left again. And if you are like me, you repeat, checking to make sure the intersection is clear before moving forward. You usually know where you are headed, so you either turn to the right, left, or head straight. If you’re not certain, most of us have our trusty navigation of choice (mine is Siri) to tell us to “proceed to the route.” Easy Peasy.
But real life is not so “easy-peasy”. I’m on the precipice of of fifty-seven. Yes, that’s right; 57. My life is more than halfway over! Reality check!! My five year plan includes the ability to collect my pension next year and in all likelihood social-security early at 62 before it is snathced away from us by the powers that be (if it still exists that is). My five year plan is to LIVE. To truly live and to die young as old as possible. I want to learn new things, go new places, explore new opportunities, practice joy, love without expectations regardless of the response, and grow in the fruit of the spirit each day. My heart desire is to demonstrate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Vision Vs. Planning
Yes, I do realize some translations of Hosea 4:6 proclaim “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” as “…lack of vision”. And some have used this scripture as backing for planning committees and sub-committees. I’m not saying planning is unimportant. Jospeh was an excellent planner and saved the nation of Egypt and Israel because of it. But first, He spent time in the presence of God and had a relational knowledge of His plans. For vision here in Hosea is not a 12 step plan with bullet points. Instead it is premeditation due to a relational knowledge of THE TRUTH. It is an understanding that comes from intimate time spent in HIS presence. It is like knowing what your spouse is going to say or do before they do it because you KNOW them.
I have always been a planner. I looked forward with excited anticipation each year to the month I would purchase a new planner. I loved them. I still do. They are beautiful, providing opportunities to “write the vision and make it plain”. Spaces were filled with ideas and hopes and dreams for future endeavors. Planners provided structure and I have always been my best with structure. Remove my structure and I flounder.
Yet this is where I have found myself most recently. Unemployed with no children and no places I absolutely MUST be. In fact, I told a new friend recently I felt a little lost without the mandated schedule. She told me not working was freedom to her, the best thing ever. But for me telling someone I am not working is akin to saying I am a slacker! Even though I am developing new skills with archery and painting. I am reading and writing and going to the gym consistently. Yet still, I don’t HAVE TO. This is a personal issue Father is dealing with me about. Trust me, He will use this for purpose in my life.
This is what I believe He has told me for this year: Focus on prayer. Praying for others, for your family, and for growth. Continue to cultivate the fruit of the spirit in your life. Grow in the “Whens”: When you pray, when you fast, when you give.
The first for me is “When you pray”. I’ve endeavored to focus upon prayer more this year. To be faithful in this matter. To write my requests and petitions, to bring them before the Lord immediately upon receiving a request from others, to stretch out my tent pegs and enlarge my borders. This is not always done in a day planner but in the privacy of our intimate moments with the Lord of Hosts. This tent stretching will be new. Not that I haven’t done it before. But this is a new tent in a new territory.
Father places all things into alignment. He is faithful and just and brings things to our attention in both subtle and in your face moments. This morning I received a beautiful leather bound prayer journal from my husband. It is gorgeously embossed with the Scottish Thistle. Immediately I loved it. But here is the kicker: IT IS A FIVE YEAR PRAYER JOURNAL!!!
FIVE YEARS
Five represents grace, goodness, favor, and unmerited favor. I have received this in spades! It also indicates divine enablement. WOW! God Himself will enable me to walk through this time of Unplanned plans. For although I do not have a fancy planner this year, my Father has not only A PLAN for me but PLANS. He knows them. These are plans which will give me a future and a hope. No date planner can offer what He alone offers: The hope of Glory.
The Inkwell Collections 