Best laid plans

We have this table at our house, it’s for crafts, coloring, snacks, etc. We bought it from a garage sale for like, five bucks, and it has served us well for about 7 years. No matter what gets on it, we can always clean it off with a little help from a Magic Eraser: pencil, crayon, paint, pen ink, cranberry juice, permanent marker, glue, etc. You name it, it comes off…

…except for Liquid Sharpie… Yeah, Ellie found it and went to town. I’m just so happy she kept it to the table, just like we tell her to, lol.

Just a few feet from that table, I’ve been reading a book, “Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley. Andy isn’t seen in the best of light recently by the conservative folk (my type of folk) because of controversial comments he spoke about the sufficiency of Scripture. I honestly haven’t followed that story and I’m not writing this to comment on his comments, well, not those comments anyways.

In the book, he’s talking about communicating clearly as a leader. Right now, it’s important that I’m leading my family well as we enter this transition to the Field. There are so many details to plan for and think about. We are sure to learn about flexiblity in a whole new way.

Plans will change. No doubt.

But our Vision will stay the same.

The quote from Andy Stanley was, “Pencil in you plans, but write your vision in ink.”

I like it, but I think we can do better than that, sorry Andy. So here’s my version.

“Write your plans in pencil, but your vision should be written in Liquid Sharpie.”

It is important to make plans and commit them to God, execute them as long as He allows it. But don’t get married to your plans, they will change, they will expire and maybe fail. Plans get written in pencil so that they can be erased, some should be erased quicker than others. You’ll need to regroup at some point and come at it from another angle. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, they say. Whoever they are?

However, the Vision that God gives you should not change. Hold on to that purpose and calling on your life like it’s your oxygen. Write that vision in Liquid Sharpie, so it never fades from view, and you can always let it be a North Star to your new plans.

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. -Proverbs 16:9

#transition #vision