Do Your Plans Need a Makeover?

What would your perfect day look like? Would you spend every last minute being productive, getting desired tasks done, or would you use it as a day of rest? Maybe a combination of both? We all have a desire to have a happy, peaceful, perfect day “off” every now and again. Recently, my ‘perfect’ day looked much different than I had previously envisioned. In fact, it turned out to be surprisingly different than my inherently selfish flesh would have planned. Disclaimer: If you didn’t know this, we are all innately selfish, whether it is conscious or subconscious. Surprise!

My selfish desires would have chosen to sleep in, eat a huge hot breakfast alone, and listen to my favorite music or podcast, read my favorite devotional in front of my sun lamp, followed by lounging around and binge Facebooking. If you didn’t notice, that ‘perfect’ day had a lot of seclusion written into it. You see, I can often get into this me, me, me mentality. In this fast paced culture, we want what we want, this minute, no matter the cost. What about the cost of relationship? Is our selfishness costing us the value of solid relationships? Strong families? The short and long of it, is yes.

A few weeks ago my daughter invited me to spend the morning with her. (Yes, all 5 years old of her confident self invited me). I contemplated declining the offer on behalf of a short week, giving myself the excuse that I really didn’t get enough done. And then it was my birthday so I really didn’t work then. This is what my conscious mind told me and it appears to be a suitable excuse these days.

The next day, I saw how happy she woke up with it already in her mind that her mama was coming on the school field trip despite me not giving her a solid answer yet. Her expectation met anticipation and she went with it. She had a special outfit picked out and could hardly sit through breakfast in all her excitement. I mean, it was a full on Angelina Ballerina morning complete with twirls and arabesques. Thank God for kids who urge us to better decisions than we can make ourselves.

I could have made the choice to decline, wrapped up in several excuses, but what would I have lost? A ‘yes’ to one thing is always a ‘no’ to another. In this case, it would have been a ‘no’ to our relationship. A dip out of the imaginary bucket. A credit to her emotional bank account.

She made me feel so special as she introduced me to all of her friends and even asked me to sit three to a seat with her on the bus. She held my arm tight and kissed my shoulder. She was proud of her mama and that made my heart beat fast with love. Her joy and pride in me beamed radiantly in all that she did and it filled my bucket until it spilled over right back into hers. I had made her perfect day, and in turn, it had made mine.

I later discovered that underneath all the excuses, was the lie that my subconscious mind was telling me: I hadn’t earned it. I hadn’t worked enough to earn that day off, I hadn’t performed my best. I hadn’t produced enough. And maybe, just maybe, I hadn’t deserved it. Ouch. As if we have to earn time for relationships, time for fun! This is one big, fat lie that our soul wants us to believe. And we will, if we don’t know the truth.

The truth is, we are not just work horses. Work ethic is great and gives us a sense of accomplishment. However, we need to be careful we don’t tie achievement to our belonging in this world. We were created for relationship and that is the ultimate belonging.

Have you ever wanted to experience freedom in your plans? Get yourself around some kids! When you do, your plans will crumble into the ocean of a great rescuer who consumes our soul with a truly perfect plan.

Verses for Encouragement:

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1 (NIV)

“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Psalm 127:3-5 (NIV)

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

“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(NIV)