“Look here, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16 NLT

Ask any high school graduate where they plan to be in twenty years. Check back in ten or fifteen, and how many of them will be anywhere in the vicinity of where they predicted? Perhaps a few. I can certainly say that the difference between the life I planned and the life I have lived is so contrasting as to be almost humorous. And embarrassing.

Why are we so arrogant and foolish as to believe that we can create the future simply by planning it? Of course, we create the future through the decisions we make each day. But so much is outside of our control: the choices and behaviors of others, the economy, our health… The best laid plans can be derailed or destroyed in an instant.

There is value in planning. There is no reward to living irresponsibly. However, what we plan and hope for is only possible if God allows it. I had it all planned out so clearly. Then I found myself humbled, broken, and rebuilt. Now I find myself at another crossroads where decisions must be made. I don’t know what doors God will open or what his plans for the next season will be.

As we plan for tomorrow, let us plan with humility, obedience, and surrender, knowing that each day is a gift from God and it is he who controls our destiny.