by Julie Lucia
Upon reading Fearless, by Max Lucado, I was struck by one profound paragraph – “The prisoners who were optimistic died of broken hearts. The one who survived had sustaining faith.”
During difficult seasons in my life it is in my nature to be optimistic. It is a trait I have been given by my mother and has passed down to my daughter. It has been an enormous comfort when things don’t go the way I planned, (Which happens a lot). It has also caused a lot of heartache and disillusionment when hopes and dreams are dashed or I ask God to fix a situation or show me something good to come out of hurtful circumstances and put a timeline on it.
You might catch me several times telling my children to enjoy the journey. It is because I love to plan. Sometimes I get more excited about planning something then I do the actual event. Maybe it comes from my days as an event planner, but, who doesn’t love the season of Christmas or waiting excitedly for your first baby to be born?
My twenties I planned and excitedly anticipated finishing graduate school, finding a new job, vacations, my wedding, and a new home. My thirties, I waited excitedly for my children to be born and planned out our days, our meals, our getaways and prepared for the first day of school.
Do you notice what they all have in common? End dates. I knew all the planning and dreaming there would be a day that they would actually take place. Maybe not on the actual day that was scheduled (like two of my children who decided to wait a week after their due date to arrive).
When I came to my forties I found myself not planning anything but our dinner. All those years I was excitedly anticipating something profoundly exciting and now I found myself at a loss. I still have hopes and dreams and promises God has placed in my heart but they are so big there is no specific date given. God has shown me that I literally need to take one day at a time. I don’t need to plan the next big thing. I can be excited about where He is taking me. Maybe I would have learned that earlier my heartaches and disappointments would have been less. I can rest in Him knowing His plans are so much better than mine wherever they take me.
And maybe now I can take my own advice and “Enjoy the Journey.”
Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
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