Saturday, September 08, 2007

Many are the plans in a person's heart,
but it is the decision of the Lord that endures.
Proverbs 19:21

This week I purchased a planner. Some of you may recall... I had a planner once and made very good use of it. However, about 2 months before my first year of novitiate, the planner was stolen from the front seat of my car. Why would someone steal a planner of all things? The only reason I could come up with is that someone might have thought it was a laptop? Who knows!

Well, all last year I didn't really feel the need to have a "planner," per se. However, now that life is getting to be a little more busy... and post-it notes were everywhere with reminders... and I felt like my time wasn't well spent... I decided a planner would be a good idea.

Yesterday I came home from the office supply store and immediately started arranging my planner... filling out the month calendars, getting the daily appointment calendars worked out, making to do lists for each day. I felt like a kid at Christmas! Excitement coursing through my veins... (if you know me, you know this isn't an exaggeration!)...

Today, as I get ready to work on other sections of the planner (important dates & addresses... personal information... etc.) I find myself a little reflective about my excitement over this. Ultimately, I have to remember that sometimes my plans aren't God's plans... and no matter how exacting I am in planning a day, sometimes it's not going to work out according to my plans. Sometimes it's a really good thing that everything doesn't work according to my plans - if they did, my life would be a mess, really!

Have you ever heard the cliche, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans?" Well, God must get a real kick out of me...

Many blessings for all who read this!
Sr. N

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Gee...I seem to remember a SMYRT retreat that was getting out of hand, and not following the schedule....I also recall taking your clipboard out of your hands and throwing it out the window....and the look of utter shock on your face! Maybe that was the first indicator that plans don't always follow what we want, but the retreat worked out, anyway!

Bro. Brandon Alana, S.M. said...

Nikki- Congrats on the new planner. I think I know what you mean when you said filling out the calendars as a workaholic I get a sense of excitement seeing a full schedule.

This evening i sat in our garden during meditation and was thinking about Friday ministry and the things I might be doing and was just filled with excitement.

Then I started meditated about how I would be operating --- would I know how to balance the active and the contemplative? --- I know that I can be on both extremes. My challenge this year will be constantly keeping myself in check and that I don't go overboard on either ends.

Blessings,
B

Susan Rose Francois, CSJP said...

I can so relate to this post! I'm getting to transition to more activity with my ministry year beginning next week myself. And I also bought myself a planner - the first in a year!