When We Follow Our Own Plan, Things Don’t Always Work Out
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you put plans in place, and you were so self-assured everything was going to be just perfect? Or you were participating on a team where you felt if you were leading the activity, you would surely do a better job? Then your situation takes an interesting turn for the worse or as the team leader the activity was much harder than you had expected it to be. I’m sure many of us have been in one or both situations, leaving you wondering what just happened there or how did I get myself into this predicament.
Sometimes we are the same way with God. We have our days, weeks or lives all planned out. God just needs to follow along and everything will be good to go. Then our plans come up against reality and our plans are confused, bent, or turned inside out. Hopefully, we sit back with a little humility to reflect on why our plans were scrambled and conclude that it is God’s plans that we are participating in and not our own.
Today’s scripture readings remind us that every day should start with us united with the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Only in this state of grace can we ever know or glean God’s Will (plan) and unite with it. Everything outside of this is chaff to the wind. “THY WILL be done”, not my will.
We Must Go All in To Follow Jesus
I made that sound so easy, but if we now turn to the second reading and the gospel reading, we see that there is a price to pay, a sacrifice to be made, to follow the Lord’s Will versus holding on to our desires. Paul must part with his young apprentice Onemisus so that he can carry out his mission and, in the gospel, reading those who seek to follow Christ must cleave off that which is most dear to them – life and family – and take up their own cross. Can you, do it?
Jesus tells us to be His disciple we must renounce all our possessions, even “our plans”. If we can’t do this, we will fall into being a disciple of the world. So, I pray that we all seek God’s Will and remember that “in every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.” (Psalm 90)
