I like to have a plan. I like to write things down and then make them happen. I like to know the direction I am headed in. I used to believe that once I decided something all I had to do was work hard enough to make it so. I would write things on my calendar in pen all the time. I liked the permanence of pen. I liked that it was difficult to change something in pen. I was stubborn and wanted to decide something and then leave it that way until it was done.
HA! ..... HA-HA!! Two things have blown THAT theory out of the water... The birth of my first child and my relationship with Jesus. Neither of these things lead into a life written in pen. Both of them require a flexibility that only a pencil can provide. I now believe in the ability to adjust and reorganize my plan. I still like to work hard to make something happen, but I have learned that it might not be my original plan that is carried through to fruition.
One case in point, my plan to return to school for the second half of the first semester this fall. Once again it is my responsibility to my children and my obedience to Jesus that has caused me to rethink, erase, and rewrite my plan. I am fortunate enough to have a relationship with my Lord where he shares his thoughts and ideas with me. He does not keep me completely in the dark about the path He has laid out for me. And me, being me, sometimes hears his plans and then wants to run full steam ahead with them.
Well, in all His wisdom, He has thrown a couple of speed bumps in my way to slow me down. And I, all of a sudden, remembered that this life is not all about me. I am not the only one in my traveling party. I am actually responsible for other travelers on the path along side me. Hmm, imagine that. Once I realized the effort it would take to re-coordinate our family's weekly routine with the new activities, new grade levels, new friends, and new challenges my kids now face, I quickly erased the original plan I had in my head and began to rework it into something that could work for my entire family. The new plan consists of me waiting until the winter semester starts in January and then jumping in at that point.
Ahhh, the joy of using a pencil. I can plan, rethink, erase, and rewrite the plan. I can have ideas and maybe even some divine intervention that sparks the planning process but then when I set down the pen and pick up the pencil, I have the freedom to change it up. A pencil is a tool of a learner, someone that is willing to try, to make mistakes, to fix them and then move on to a higher level of thinking. A pencil can be sharpened, made fresh again. A pencil can have fancy accessories like rubber grips and smiley face eraser toppers. When we are open to being people that use pencils we can also be sharpened, refreshed, by new ways of thinking. We can have fancy accessories like wisdom and discernment, that helps us work more efficiently.
So... set down your pen, pick up a pencil and begin to rethink, erase, and rewrite the plan of your life. Now is the perfect time. It may just be the exact time God had in mind for you. Reworking the plan does not have to mean erasing the entire thing and starting from scratch but it can mean working on small parts of the design a little bit at a time.
My prayer for today is that we are all open to hearing from God, following His call in our lives, and being flexible enough to reexamine the message and retool our response. I pray that God surrounds you with pencils and pencil sharpeners and that you are brave enough to utilize them. I pray that we are each humble enough to use the pencil eraser and obedient enough to allow God to help us redesign the plan of our life.
Until We Meet Again,
Drea
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