Holding on Loosely
I’m someone who likes to make plans. I like to know when I’m doing something, how long it will take, and what’s coming next. I don’t like surprises. But one thing this bout with cancer has taught me is to hold on to my plans with a loose grip.
James 4:13-15 says, Now listen, you who say “Today or tomorrow we will go to this city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
I love how straightforward James is. The guy who says today or tomorrow we’ll go here and do this and such and such is my kind of planner, but James debunks the whole reasoning by saying, “You don’t even know what tomorrow holds.”
He’s right too. None of us knows what the next breath holds. In an instant all our planning can be out the window. Our life is in God’s hands. He’s calling the shots, making the plans. Our responsibility, yes, is to plan ahead, but our calling is to take this life one day at a time “as the Lord wills.”
I’ll continue to make plans, sure, but I’ll be holding on to them loosely, ready to surrender them to God’s will at any time. Quite a challenge and an exercise in letting go.
