The Best Laid Plans

The pretty young mother sitting across the table from me at a recent speaking event looked like she wasn’t much more than a child herself, so I was quite surprised to discover she had two kids of her own, one of them a teenager. Perhaps to prove her story, the young mother pulled out a few photos of her children and then she offered the following family story for good measure. 

One day she and her young family were dining out at a restaurant that offered an all you can eat buffet. Her cheese loving young son was most pleased to discover the blocked cheese on the salad bar and was holding up his end of the all you can eat pledge, dairy style, until his mama called a halt to his indulgence. While the rest of the family ate and visited, her son sat with his head in his hands, pouting. Suddenly, he looked up at the group with a light bulb type of expression. 

“So,” he said. “God, lives in us, right Mama?”
“Yes. If we’re believers,” his mother replied.
“And we’re supposed to do what he wants us to do, right?” her son continued.
“Yes,” his mother confirmed. 
Delighted with how this was going her son announced gleefully, “Well, God wants more cheese!” 

See anyone you know in that story? We mature believers rarely blame our poor food choices on God, but who among us hasn’t dreamed up a plan and tried to bring God on board after the fact, or phrased our goals just so, hoping that God will sign off on what we want instead of vice versa? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Sadly, such transparent game plans are dead in the water. The goal, yours and mine, should be to lean into Him until our desires become transformed by His, our wants shaped by what He wills. When God plans the menu, so to speak, we’re free to enjoy all we can eat, and go back for more!   


Hugs,
Shellie