When things don’t go like we planned, there is always plan B. I know you have been there, as have I. In the middle of what I thought was the perfect plan of action, things go awry. When things don’t go as planned we need a new plan! Of course, no one ever talks about Plan C or D or…well you get the idea.
Why do we abandon our plans when they don’t work? I know we need to succeed but the first question to ask is, did I stay with the plan long enough? Do a few defeats mean the plan is not good? The second question is, was it the right plan for this situation? Perhaps the situation changed and made the plan non-functional. Whatever it is, we always talk about having a Plan B, but do we?
If you are like me, when you plan something you just have to be successful. It can lead to forcing a plan to work that was never going to and we do that because we cannot tolerate failure. If we don’t have a plan we wander along at the mercy of whatever happens. Or do we? Is it possible that in spiritual things we should let go of our plans and just follow? Perhaps that is what taking up our crosses daily means. We are not going to have things all planned out our way. We will have faith enough to follow what we see to be and know to be God’s way.
In churches we are often taught that Jesus was plan B. If we were not such terrible sinners, people of utter depravity (as my Presbyterian friends might say) then Jesus would not have had to suffer and die. Do you really believe a loving God needed a blood sacrifice or a sacrifice at all to love us? How have we gotten this so wrong? Jesus was Plan A, always and forever. He made that clear over and over again. “In the beginning was the Word…..” (John 1:1) God loved us (ALL of us) so much that he sent his only Son…. Don’t those words sound familiar?
It was never plan B! We are God’s plan A and always have been because we are created in love and by Love. If God didn’t always love us then that means God has not always been love. That is simply not possible. Today, let’s embrace and become plan A for everyone we meet. Let’s do it God’s way and love.
TMM