There has been a blog rolling around in my head for about 3 weeks now centered around the phrase "Life Is a Moving Target". Working in the construction industry as I do, where every day there are emergencies that arise, fires that need to be put out, delays beyond our control that set back a project schedule, and a host of other "issues", you will often hear it said that "you try to plan, but it's a moving target, and you just have to do the best you can with what you have." It's a moving target...
Well life, really, is a moving target. You try to plan, you think you have it figured out, you know where you're going next, what's coming up, what you need to do. Then something happens that throws it all off. You know the phrase "the best laid plans...", and I can pretty much guarantee that you've experienced a time where those plans you had did not pan out. At all. A time where everything went the opposite of how it needed to. A time where it literally just all fell apart, and suddenly that perfect plan...turns into an entirely different, unexpected, but often still successful event!
No matter how carefully we plan for things, there is no guarantee that the plan will be carried out. Life happens! It's a moving target, truly...so many unforeseen twists and turns, bends in the road, other people not doing their part, illness, injury, oversleeping...the "things" that can go "wrong" and throw off the carefully laid out plan are many! Yet often, that "thing" that goes "wrong" ends up simply making a new plan, that still works out!
That's the beauty of life being a moving target...if we are willing to remain flexible, and to go with the flow, what needs to happen so often will! And when you can look back, after you've gotten past the initial feeling that your carefully thought out plans turned into a catastrophic disaster, you will so often realize that, in fact, it all came together perfectly.
Weddings are a perfect example of this; you plan meticulously, every little detail from the flowers to the music, the dresses to the tuxes, the colors, the food...you plan it to perfection. Then you have a rehearsal, and it all feels unplanned and chaotic, and the bride is freaking out that it's going to be a disaster, do those colors clash?, the cake topper is all wrong, etc. (I know if you've ever planned a wedding, or been in a wedding, you are laughing right now because you know this happens to everyone!!). Then the big moment arrives, the wedding goes off, rarely without a hitch...but it's those little hitches that make it the perfect, memorable wedding the bride and groom hoped for.
I imagine the construction industry is not special in it's busy and chaotic nature, and that most places of business have that sense that "it's a moving target". What keeps everyone successful, though, is remaining flexible, being able to go with the flow, to put the fires out one by one, to have a meltdown every so often because that's human nature but to come back the next day and tackle the issues one at a time and get through them. And doesn't that sound like life, in general? We don't honestly know what is coming next, we can plan all we want and try to keep everything in control, but we have to be flexible, we have to be able to adapt quickly and find the positive in the parts of the plan that don't go "our way", we have to just keep going, because what's the other option? It's to let all those missteps, all those diversions, all those "wrong ways" fester in us, leading us to bitterness and discontent, and quite possibly missing out on something wonderful that happens when life doesn't go according to plan. Who wants to live that way?
Life is a moving target, and sometimes we experience this in a way that reminds us that, while our own plans do not always pan out, there is someone who has a greater plan, and His plans DO pan out. Always, whether we are prepared for it or not! I can give you no greater example of this, then the very one that happened this week in my little world, the very one that told me "stop letting that blog roll around in your head, share it already!!". My beautiful co-worker, who keeps things running smoothly in one of my offices, sent me a text at 2:36pm on Tuesday that read "Hey. Not making it to work tomorrow as of now, water broke and I'm on my way to the hospital." Her due date was November 18th!! This is a month early, not the plan!!! Not to mention, I was at my other office when that text came in, up to my ears in stuff over there because my office manager at that office was at the hospital where her boyfriend was in the ICU with meningitis. Again, so very not the plan! For any of us! But you know what...at 1:23am on Wednesday morning, a precious little miracle of God was born, healthy and beautiful like his momma. And yesterday, a man was released from the hospital with answers to his illness and medications to get him better. And what else matters at this point? Plans can be changed, we can adapt to situations that don't go as expected. We must live in the moment, because that is where we find that while life is a moving target, it also is a miracle...God's very gift to each of us. He gives us that life, in His time, for His plan. Do not let Him down by being rigid with your own planning; allow for the grace He gives you by remaining flexible as you embrace each miraculous moment of the life He has planned for you.
Well life, really, is a moving target. You try to plan, you think you have it figured out, you know where you're going next, what's coming up, what you need to do. Then something happens that throws it all off. You know the phrase "the best laid plans...", and I can pretty much guarantee that you've experienced a time where those plans you had did not pan out. At all. A time where everything went the opposite of how it needed to. A time where it literally just all fell apart, and suddenly that perfect plan...turns into an entirely different, unexpected, but often still successful event!
No matter how carefully we plan for things, there is no guarantee that the plan will be carried out. Life happens! It's a moving target, truly...so many unforeseen twists and turns, bends in the road, other people not doing their part, illness, injury, oversleeping...the "things" that can go "wrong" and throw off the carefully laid out plan are many! Yet often, that "thing" that goes "wrong" ends up simply making a new plan, that still works out!
That's the beauty of life being a moving target...if we are willing to remain flexible, and to go with the flow, what needs to happen so often will! And when you can look back, after you've gotten past the initial feeling that your carefully thought out plans turned into a catastrophic disaster, you will so often realize that, in fact, it all came together perfectly.
Weddings are a perfect example of this; you plan meticulously, every little detail from the flowers to the music, the dresses to the tuxes, the colors, the food...you plan it to perfection. Then you have a rehearsal, and it all feels unplanned and chaotic, and the bride is freaking out that it's going to be a disaster, do those colors clash?, the cake topper is all wrong, etc. (I know if you've ever planned a wedding, or been in a wedding, you are laughing right now because you know this happens to everyone!!). Then the big moment arrives, the wedding goes off, rarely without a hitch...but it's those little hitches that make it the perfect, memorable wedding the bride and groom hoped for.
I imagine the construction industry is not special in it's busy and chaotic nature, and that most places of business have that sense that "it's a moving target". What keeps everyone successful, though, is remaining flexible, being able to go with the flow, to put the fires out one by one, to have a meltdown every so often because that's human nature but to come back the next day and tackle the issues one at a time and get through them. And doesn't that sound like life, in general? We don't honestly know what is coming next, we can plan all we want and try to keep everything in control, but we have to be flexible, we have to be able to adapt quickly and find the positive in the parts of the plan that don't go "our way", we have to just keep going, because what's the other option? It's to let all those missteps, all those diversions, all those "wrong ways" fester in us, leading us to bitterness and discontent, and quite possibly missing out on something wonderful that happens when life doesn't go according to plan. Who wants to live that way?
Life is a moving target, and sometimes we experience this in a way that reminds us that, while our own plans do not always pan out, there is someone who has a greater plan, and His plans DO pan out. Always, whether we are prepared for it or not! I can give you no greater example of this, then the very one that happened this week in my little world, the very one that told me "stop letting that blog roll around in your head, share it already!!". My beautiful co-worker, who keeps things running smoothly in one of my offices, sent me a text at 2:36pm on Tuesday that read "Hey. Not making it to work tomorrow as of now, water broke and I'm on my way to the hospital." Her due date was November 18th!! This is a month early, not the plan!!! Not to mention, I was at my other office when that text came in, up to my ears in stuff over there because my office manager at that office was at the hospital where her boyfriend was in the ICU with meningitis. Again, so very not the plan! For any of us! But you know what...at 1:23am on Wednesday morning, a precious little miracle of God was born, healthy and beautiful like his momma. And yesterday, a man was released from the hospital with answers to his illness and medications to get him better. And what else matters at this point? Plans can be changed, we can adapt to situations that don't go as expected. We must live in the moment, because that is where we find that while life is a moving target, it also is a miracle...God's very gift to each of us. He gives us that life, in His time, for His plan. Do not let Him down by being rigid with your own planning; allow for the grace He gives you by remaining flexible as you embrace each miraculous moment of the life He has planned for you.
