“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.” – Jeremiah 29:11
I recall walking through our neighborhood several year ago when we encountered a man leaning against a shovel in his front yard. He appeared exhausted. As we passed by he stopped us to solicit our advice. Seems he was planting rose bushes in a large flower bed, several of them perfectly spaced out – until while digging a hole he encountered a huge immovable rock. That’s why he stopped us, to see if we had any ideas about what to do with this rock that was getting in the way of his perfectly laid out plan.
How many times has that happened to you, you come up with what you think is a perfect plan only to unexpectedly encounter some huge immovable object? That’s when you begin to understand the old joke that if you want to make God laugh make plans.
Does that mean we should not make plans? Absolutely not! The great General and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” In other words, plans hardly ever work out exactly according to plan. There’s always some unexpected immovable rock we will encounter. But planning is critical so that we know where we are headed and what we are trying to accomplish.
Every recent college graduate, indeed anyone seeking or starting a new career should read Daniel Pink’s little book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko; for according to the subtitle it is, The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. Cleverly presented in comic-book style this little story teaches six essential principles necessary for anyone seeking fulfillment in life and work, number one being (1) “there is no plan”, at least not in the traditional ways we try to lay out plans. But Johnny Bunko learns from the other principles that (2) we are each given strengths we should focus on rather than weaknesses; (3) life is not about us, but what we do for others; (4) persistence trumps talent; (5) make excellent mistakes; (6) and leave an imprint. Add them all up together and what is not a plan actually becomes THE plan, that by living by these principles we will find true fulfillment in our life and work. “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord,” which happens to be His plan too. . . And by the way, I don’t know what our neighbor did about that rock, but he eventually created a beautiful rose garden.