Friends, you know when you come across an ancient treasure so ridiculous and so embarrassing at the same time that you want to show everyone and no one?
Say, for example, the binder from 6th grade that says “I love Jonathan Taylor Thomas” all over it, or “Petri + Caitlin = BFF”
Petri was my cockatiel. Apparently we were best friends FOREVER until I entered high school and learned that “the pill” wasn’t Tylenol and that playing piano with a bird on your shoulder like a pirate wasn’t cool.
At one time I thought I was going to marry my soulmate Jon, and Jon and Caitlin Taylor Thomas were going to ride off into the sunset, or the pet store at the very least and pet the birds forever and ever amen.
My dreams were going to give me so much joy. My life plans were my joy plans. I was trying to manipulate aspects of my life to make it the happiest, but my middle school plans were all a ridiculous farce. Petri didn’t want to be my best friend. Petri wanted to bite me. He was always biting, and JTT never returned one letter. NOT ONE.
Well, I found a different type of ridiculous relic today. It was a five-year plan that was so carefully crafted. A plan that I created a mere seven months into matrimonial bliss. (ha just kidding. Year one was a lot of things, but blissful it was not.) A plan that was so official that I had the pastor husband sign it (twice) and date it in my phone, like a totally made up electronic notary or something.
I’m sure I forced the pastor husband to agree to the plan (Bless all husbands everywhere.) in October of 2012, but I will tell you that none of the events in the plan ever happened how I had planned them. Half the events didn’t happen at all.
Thank you God for your plan and not mine. Yours was so much better.
Yours had adventure; mine had predictability.
Yours had growth; mine had stagnation.
Yours refined and brought joy; mine would have frustrated.
Friends, we make plans and plans and plans. We try to manipulate our time so that we can get the most done or gain the most success or feel the most joy. I know, because I did this for a really, really long time. I still do it. The minutes were suffocated. And when I over-plan (read: micromanage), I leave no room for any real hope, peace, or joy.
My Jesusy tribe and I love this verse from Jeremiah 29:
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
We will quote it and then get matching tattoos of it on our forearms. It was the first verse I ever memorized when I was a sophomore in college. The idea of God having a unique and good plan for me that gave me a hope and a future was so foreign. I had always thought God found joy in withholding things and didn’t notice my coming and going.
As we celebrate Advent and prepare ourselves for the birth of the Great I Am, may we remember where our joy comes from. Not from us manipulating our time, micromanaging each moment, or climbing an imaginary ladder. Joy bubbles from the heart and can’t be influenced by outside circumstances.
In Advent we remember that God came into the world so that we could know hope. Hope that we aren’t alone and we aren’t an accident and that this one life isn’t all there is. And when we know hope, we can know peace, that no matter what we are going through, our God is Emmanuel, God with us. When we know peace, we can know joy, that even though we are on this earth for a split-second our lives can have meaning as we bring Kingdom value to the needy around us.
photo credit: Cassi Werner
Joyful people are so unhurried. They leave so much margin and because of it, notice so much more. They notice when “I’m great” means the opposite, and simply put, they notice when someone so badly needs to be noticed. Joyful people don’t dwell on the negative but believe the best about people. They encourage and celebrate your successes as their own. They pour themselves out over and over again but are never empty. They leave room for God changing their plans.
Joy to the world, indeed, my friends.
How about you?
What was one of your life plans that, had it turned out the way you planned, would have been much less exciting than what God had planned? Leave a comment and let us know!