Plans and more plans

I had a really blessed Sabbath this week. I had a great lesson with my Sunday School class. We ended up taking a lot of time talking about life plans. There are three of them and they're in high school. One is a senior, another a junior and a third a sophomore. We also have a couple of freshmen that also attend, but not regularly.

We were talking about plans because it's getting close to the time that the senior has to make a decision about which colleges to apply for. We discussed career choices and that they needed to have a plan for when they graduate. Either a college to attend, plans to go to work, or even entering the military. The key I continued to stress to them is to make a plan. And start to execute it now.

I realized that in our Bible Study last week James said that we shouldn't plan too far ahead because we're not guaranteed tomorrow. That we should end all of our plans with the phrase, 'if it is the will of God.' And that's what I told the girls. Write your plan, but be ready for God to make some alterations to it. I shared that I had a totally different plan for my life when I was younger. I wanted this career and I wanted to live here and there. But God has a funny way of showing us what His will is.

Our lesson yesterday was on Esther. Not that it was planned, no pun intended, but our discussion was the perfect prelude to the story of Esther. Never in her wildest dreams did Esther imagine that she would be the central figure in a drama that had the lives of thousands of people hanging in the balance. Her life being one of them. But as her uncle Mordecai told her in his famous words, 'perhaps it is for a times such as this that God put you where you are.'

By all means make plans. Make lots of plans. But always realize that the final arbiter of our plans is our Maker. Don't be upset if he rearranges them from time to time. Remember, His plan is perfect, even if we don't see it right away. Again, write your plans in pencil, then give God the eraser.