One day…                                                                       I was looking at a calendar and realizing how we put days in tidy little boxes, planning days, months and even years before they actually arrive.  We tend to want to know what to expect so far ahead, when none of it is promised to us. The Lord tells us all our days are in His hands – none of us knows if we have tomorrow to live – although we assume we will.  Do you notice how we look ahead and are so sure of ourselves as we schedule and plan?  There’s weekly, monthly, quarterly; one year-five year-ten year plans. There’s school:  preschool, elementary, middle and senior high, college, grad school, career, then retirement planning.  There’s vacation, mission trips, conference plans…upcoming exams, medical tests and procedures…

God’s word says:

Proverbs 27:1

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

James 4:14

…you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

We worry endlessly about what might never come. We can’t put God in a box and expect Him to follow our instructions.  How much time do we spend filling the calendar boxes with our busy schedules and not thinking to ask God about what He might have in store?  The verses above are just two of many scriptures where the Lord reminds us we are not in charge of the days of our lives.

How much time have you spent planning and worrying about things that never occur, or don’t happen as you thought?  I like to make notes of what I’m hearing on scraps of paper as I go about my daily life.  Today as I gathered them, transferring them into my notebook, I found a common theme:  PERSPECTIVE.  Included in this is dying to self (it’s not about me!) and deepening our relationship in the Love of God in Christ Jesus (John 3:16 for starters).  It’s not about ME, my glory, my fame, my concerns or schedule; it’s all about God’s plans for our lives and how we fit into them. 

I pray we all come into a deeper communion with the God of the universe, who made us and chose to live in and through us in Christ Jesus.

Let the calendar hold your dates, but remember: make room for God’s will, not your own. 

As the Lord’s Prayer reminds us:                                                                                                    “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven…”