What type of planner are you?

Do not those who make sinful plans go the wrong way? Kindness and truth are for those who plan good. Proverbs 14:22 NLV Planning is a good thing - most would agree - but the wrong set of plans, even in the hands of a good man may not turn out right! Why? Good plans usually produce a better 'end result' than bad plans. Yet, the hands in which the plans are organized and carried out matter a whole lot, don't they? 

I am a novice wood-worker. Plans in my hands need to be very, very simply illustrated and the tools need to be quite basic. Yet, even with the simplest of plans, plainly laid out, I can mis-cut a piece of wood and end up with ends that don't match as they should. Why does this happen? It is usually because I didn't read the plans all that well! Good plans are only part of the end result - the guidance of the hands combined with the engaged mind go a long, long way toward producing a better result!

The same is true in our daily walk with Jesus. We get some pretty well-defined plans when we explore the Word of God, but in our hands, there can be some end results that 'vary' from the intended result! Why? We forgot to engage all the parts of our being behind the execution of those plans! We might have engaged our minds, but forgot to engage the heart. We perhaps engaged the heart, but the mind was elsewhere! The end result is far from what God intended by giving us those well-defined instructions! 

Put a little effort behind the plans and they turn out a little differently. Really study the plans well, then take 'ordered' and 'consistent' steps in executing those plans and see where the end results differ from when we didn't take such ordered and consistent steps. The plans matter, but the execution of those plans is equally important. The more we learn to take the right steps in a consistent manner, with the right focus and attentive engagement in the process, the more chance we have of the plans producing what they were intended to produce.

We can come up with some wild schemes in terms of what we believe will yield the right results in our lives, can we not? The wilder ones may have even managed to land us in quite a pickle from time to time. The plans were there, but the actual 'putting things into motion' didn't come until we engaged some or part of ourselves into the process. We 'get behind' the plans - then they are set in motion. We choose the first step, and often the timing of that first step is our choice. When we choose well, the steps are better ordered. When we keep choosing well, the steps become more consistent. The plans matter, but those plans are mere words until they are executed, my friends! Just sayin!