Staying with the theme: Gleanings, as in ideas I gleaned from my retreat last week, today’s comes from the old expression, “Plan your work and work your plan.” The point of the statement is when we take the time to plan before we start our work, the work will be more effective than if we just have at it. One morning as I sat with my planner, thinking about what I was going to do that day, a thought came to me: If I plan “my” work and work “my” plan what in that statement has anything to do with God? If I’m a leader who follows Jesus wouldn’t it make more sense for me to to rely on God in the planning?”
As I thought about it, I played around with the wording until this sequence came to mind, which is actually a prayer: “God plan my work, and I’ll work your plan.” Immediately, it made sense. Yes, I’m a leader, and yes, I need to have a plan for my work in order to be more effective, but I want it to be God’s plan. The other advantage is it brings prayer to the planning process. Each day when I sit down to start my work, after my morning prayer time, I look over my schedule and calendar and offer the brief prayer, “God plan my work, and I’ll work your plan.” It’s making an impact on my focus. While I typically plan my week ahead on Saturday afternoon, I offer the brief prayer before that, and then each day.
I’ve never really been a great planner. I’m an activist and I want to get right to the work, but reminding myself to give God my schedule reminds me it’s His work I’m doing, and He has a better plan than I do. Maybe you already invite God to plan your work, but if you don’t I commend the idea to you. Taking the time to pause and get God to coordinate your efforts is a great way to focus your day on Him. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Here’s to leading better by taking the time to invite God to plan your work–today!