December 31, 2006

READY OR NOT …


Tomorrow is New Year Day!  2007 is upon us, ready or not!  Time marches 
by, faster and faster it seems as I get older, and though it seems like 
only yesterday we were welcoming in 2006 – much has happened in the 
past 12 months – so much that it really did take 12 months for it all to 
get done!  Now was that profound!  Anyway, here I am looking at a new 
calendar reflecting the New Year before me.  What am I going to do with 
it?

This is usually the time when I might encourage you to make some new 
New Year’s resolutions; or make the commitment to keep last year’s; make 
a budget; set goals; and well, you get the drift.  But when thinking 
about what I wanted to share this writing, I found I was more interested 
in discovering what resolutions, budgets, plans or goals God has for me 
in 2007 rather than ones I might come up with.  I don’t believe I have 
ever thought about it like that before.  And for me, that was profound!

The Word assures us that God does have a plan for us and that I should 
be glad in the plans He has for me.  But sometimes the difficulty for 
us is discovering or understanding what those plans are. If I really 
knew God’s plan for me, it would be easy to make my list of resolutions 
accordingly.  But, unfortunately that is not how God usually works.  Oh, 
there certainly are plans He has for us that we fully know and 
understand – like being faithful in studying His Word, prayer, church 
attendance, sharing the gospel, etc.  And for those things, if you need to renew 
or tweak a resolution to better implement those things into your life, 
then now is certainly the time to do that.  But those are not the plans 
I’m really talking about.

The Lord has used the verse reminding us to be glad in the plans He has 
for us to make me so much more conscious of God’s plan for me each day.  
I have begun making a choice each day to be glad in His plans for me 
and then as I dwell on that throughout the day, pretty soon I find myself 
also choosing to want to see those plans realized in God’s time and 
only in God’s way.  This has become a prayer for me: “God, thank you and I 
am glad for the plans you have for me today, and I want to submit and 
be obedient to you so that those plans can be realized in my life, in 
your time and only in your way.”  I’m consciously choosing to try not to 
tell God what I think the plan should be, or when it should be 
accomplished or how it should be done.  It has saved a lot of words on my part 
– I’m used to telling God all those things in case He can’t figure it 
out on his own.  Ever been there?  Well, just as you know, he does not 
need my directions or instructions, and it really is working out much 
better when I leave it all to Him.  His plan His time, His way!

What are God’s plans for you today, this week, this month, this year?  
Knowing what they are is not the important thing – there is no faith 
required when we know.  Being glad when we don’t know or understand is 
the faithful obedient part that God is looking for.  Knowing God has a 
plan should be enough – for He promised that those plans well only be for 
our good and will never bring us harm.  Let’s commit in this New Year 
to trust Him for the plan, be glad in it, want it only in His time and 
in His way.  Is this a resolution you can join me in?


Until next time … love and prayers, 

RuthAnn Gleason, the Parson's Wife
ragleason123@yahoo.com