What is Your Plan?

I am a person who likes to have a plan. I like to know where I am going and what I am doing.

As I reflect on the change in direction of my life over the last year I see that there is still a plan; it just may not be the plan I had envisioned.

I came across the following message on Inky Johnson’s website awhile back:

“When we fail to achieve our lifelong dreams, we must ask, ‘Am I really failing, or is God prevailing?’”

As much as I like to be in control, I have really come to understand that my plan is really God’s plan. It is not my duty to create and direct my own plan. It is my job to look for the signs that God sends so that I can realize God’s plan for me, or as Paulo Coelho writes in The Alchemist, “To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation.”

So what about taking action? Good question. Actually, taking on this new mindset promotes taking action. When you realize that the opportunities presented to you may actually be a part of God’s plan for you, it allows you to take chances or accept opportunities that normally you would not. If you believe you are directing your own plan then you may pass on opportunities because you do not believe they are part of your plan. Taking action promotes growth and learning and always leads to the next step in the plan.

It is important to have a vision for your life, but that vision may be revised and reconstructed as you search for your Personal Legend and the fulfillment of God’s plan. This is the essence of faith. We must take action and believe without truly knowing what we are capable of, or where God can take us. The exciting part is that we can live an amazing life by letting go of what “we” think the results can be and trusting that God will protect and provide for us.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas, let’s remember that while we are searching for our plan, our dreams, our Personal Legend, God’s fulfillment of his promise through the baby in the manger is the foundation of our faith that He will get the results we need.