Plans can turn on a dime and leave us frustrated. However, the proper response is to regroup one's thoughts and adapt quickly. We certainly should not throw our hands up in the air and just quit. That's the easy way out and it is unprofitable.
Life consistently throws obstacles our way. Some people just kick back and let alcohol solve them, which will never happen, because once they sober up the problem will remain. Others adapt quickly.
Crying and complaining won't help, either.
The situation
Yesterday I received a request from a long time client to write an 8-page annotated bibliography about Jeff Bezos and his e-commerce giant, Amazon. The client wanted to speak to the issue of unfair business practices and the poor treatment of Amazon employees. No problem! It was going to pay handsomely. The due date was three days off so I had plenty of time.
Beginning
When my son was down for a nap I gathered 10 solid, peer-reviews resources from Google Scholar and formatted the page in the Chicago Manual Style. I listed my references alphabetically and then begin to write.
After 90 minutes I had 2.5 pages completed and my son woke up. Mr. Cranky demanded to go outside so writing the rest of the paper was delayed until this morning. I knew I could finish it by suppertime.
This morning
After I awakened at 4:25 a.m. and nuked my Nestle instant coffee, I opened up my email accounts. At the top of my main account was an email from the client. "Change of plans" was the subject. Darn! The client in the U.S. had made a mistake and needed the paper by midnight US time, something I could not complete because of my responsibility to my son.
I sent him what I had along with all of the PDF journal articles I had saved. He apologized and sent me $40 for the hour-and-a-half worth of work. He also promised to send me another assignment in a few days.
New assignment
Underneath the above-mentioned email was another from a client. This New Yorker asked me to write a 3-page paper on immigration to the United States and its harmful effects. It appears he wants to send it as a Letter to the Editor.
I quickly responded and accepted the assignment. It pays $50. I have 2 days to write it. No problem!
Examples of quick adapting
In the Bible we can read of stories where biblical characters had to adapt quickly. They didn't give up. This is because they, like us, knew that our plans always can change.
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps” (Proverbs 16).
And again: "Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails"(Proverbs 19:21, NIV).
God's change of plans
Jonah had been an obedient prophet of God. He was sent to preach repentance to Assyria, a great enemy of all nations and specifically Israel. But as we have read, Jonah didn't want to go and fled from God - or at least attempted to flee.
Chuck Swindoll writes: "When the call of God came to him, Jonah could not see beyond his own selfish desire for God to punish the Assyrians. How could God want him to take a message of mercy to such people? Before Jonah could relay God’s message, he had to be broken. He had to learn something about the mercy of the Lord. Through his flight to Tarshish, his shipwreck, and his time in the great fish, Jonah was convinced in a powerful way that all salvation comes from the Lord (Jonah 2:9). And because of God’s supreme power, only God decides where to pour out His salvation and His mercy (4:11)."
He also has plans for you and me. Though we may chart our course, the Lord may or may not alter them. If God does change our plans, we should respond positively, not hesitantly as Jonah did. Aligning our desires with God’s is always a process. Just because we go through the motions of following God’s will does not mean our hearts are aligned with His. Let's align with God, then.
So if your plans change today or tomorrow, how will you respond? Will you pout, complain or run away or will you adapt quickly? May I encourage you to adapt, because God will have His way and make our paths easier when we obey.
Plans can change at any moment in the ongoing life, although the factors that cause this change, the sooner we accept it, the faster our adaptation process will be.