No One Plans to Fail, They Just Fail to Plan
Growing up I was not good at planning stuff. I just did things by the seat of my pants. I was a “go with the flow” kind of person. I think that song on the Lion King really set me on that path. Hakuna Matata.
Simba showed up one day and said, “My uncle killed my father and is trying to kill me now. Timon and Pumbaa said, “Oh, wow, have you tried just not worrying about it?” That is how they lived life, and I was sold. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Life Does Not Go As Planned
Life just does not play out like that. I 100% tried this and it 100% did not work. It is true that you can make plans, but God’s will shall prevail. As I grew older, I tried my hand at making plans. There is that saying that man makes plans and God laughs. Well, God laughed at me a lot. Not because I was trying to be prepared and plan. But because most of my plans were idiotic and self-serving.
I would have a big exam and would plan to study but friends and fun would interfere, and my plan ultimately was me praying, “God, I know you are there, and if your will is for me to vaguely remember this information and still pass, let it be done.” I received two D’s in my first semester of college after being an A Honor Roll student my entire high school career. Then I would have the nerve to act surprised when God did not answer my prayer.
No One Wants to Fail
No one starts a business with the intent to fail. No one stands across from their spouse on their wedding day going through the list of things they are going to do to make sure this marriage is a complete disaster. But on the flip side, surprisingly, most do not make a list of things that they plan to do to make sure that it does not fail.
Some will see how not communicating destroyed their parents’ marriage and will do the exact same thing in their marriage. Some will see how working 70 hours a week alienated their mother or father from them and will go out and do the same thing.
Read: 4 “Bear” Essentials for Men
While it is good to make plans to succeed, it is also good to make plans to NOT fail. Go into a marriage saying divorce is off the table. Go into raising kids saying I will be there for them no matter what and will love them no matter what with the save vigor of what school they will attend or what friends/boyfriend/girlfriend they will have.
There is such a thing as horrible planning such as I discussed in my early college career. If you have an attitude of “If we can just get through this month, we only have one more month to go before we need to get through another month”, then you will have a miserable time getting through life.
But if you attack it with “If I set reminders to do 20 push-ups every morning. Buy my own coffee and save the every day Starbucks run money. I will give my wife a sincere compliment every day and listen when she tells me about her day.” These are tangible plans you can make that aren’t too intimidating and could lead to even more positive outcomes when added upon.
I had a boss that taught me the 5-P’s. Proper planning prevents poor performance. But even when you plan accordingly it still goes awry. So why make plans? God wants you to include him, talk to him about it, and then let him HELP you make plans.
Where we as his children mess up is trying to make plans by ourselves and then decide to include him. That is a recipe for disaster. We never plan to fail, but a lot of times we do not plan to not fail.
The way we do that is by including the creator in all our plans and have him validate them. That is the only foolproof way that I know. Count the cost, pray about it, let God’s will be done, and just follow his lead. Then we can kick back and Hakuna Matata to our heart’s content.
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
