Making Plans

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

You've heard the saying, right? Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Interestingly enough, I looked this quote up, via google, and found that this idea of life happening while we're busy planning is attributed to many people including John Lennon, Allen Saunders, and many others whose names you probably won't recognize. But regardless of whether you recognize their names, you understand the sentiment. Life is what's happening to us right now . . . while we're making other plans. 

I never took much stock in this saying . . . until quite recently. You see, I’m anxiously searching for a teaching job for the 2017-2018 school year. It has been a frustrating process to say the least. I’ve put in several applications at surrounding school districts, but what I’m really waiting for is for specific positions to open so that I can apply for those jobs. In my opinion, it is a process that is taking entirely too long. Meanwhile, I find myself becoming increasingly annoyed with a God who seems to be way too slow in handing me the future I think I deserve.

But the other day, my husband, ever the voice of reason and truth in my life, made a comment that brought my complaining, whining and dissatisfaction with my current life to a screeching halt. “You realize, Nici, that while you are busy looking for jobs for next year, you forget that you already have one.”

Ouch. He’s right. I do have a job. A pretty great job, in fact. I get to be a teacher’s associate in my kids’ school. It’s a great environment where I work with a fun-loving, hard-working, supportive bunch. In short, it is a fun and friendly place to spend my days.

Not only that, but every day after lunch, my son comes up and gives me a hug. My soon-to-be 6th grader gives me a hug every day with all his friends and classmates looking on. How amazing. What a gift.

And as if that weren’t enough, every day on her way to recess my daughter pokes her head in to the room where I work, smiles and says, “Hi Mom, I love you,” while her gaggle of girls looks on and giggles behind her.

What amazing, incredible moments. Ones that I am wishing away while I pine for my future—a future that is really unfolding one day at a time if I were just wise enough to realize it.

Life is what’s happening while we’re busy making other plans.

So, true. Too true. So, this week I’m making a resolution. I’m going to enjoy the gift of the present. I’m not going to waste the small moments of joy God lays at my doorstep every day by looking ahead into a future that I have no control over.

No, I’m going to let my future unfold one small moment at a time and take the course that God has given me one step at a time. I challenge you to do the same this week, to find joy in the gift that is the present. No matter how big your future plans are or what you're waiting for, remember that life is really about what's happening to you right now. In that knowledge, enjoy and embrace every single moment of every single day.