I do it
every time. I over plan, over prepare, and work myself to exhaustion with the
false idea it will give me some control over the future. Then, the circumstances
change, rendering all my work useless. What did I gain? Nothing, except
precious moments I can never reclaim.
The
story of the rich man in the Bible is a good example of wasting one’s life, and
sadly, I am far too much like him. He figured once he had built enough barns to
store several years of harvest, he could relax and enjoy life. He was foolish,
wasting his life working toward a goal he would not live to see completed. He
thought he was wise. I thought the same of my foolish shenanigans, until things
changed and all my work proved useless.
Jesus
said, “Be not solicitous for tomorrow; for the morrow will be solicitous for
itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34
I wish
I had listened and enjoyed more of the good things God provided in the present.
It is far better to make tentative plans for the future — without over planning
or over preparing. As someone once told me, “If you don’t like what is
happening today, wait six months. It will all change.” In my experience, things
can change much sooner than that, and right when I least expect the change.
The
final reprimand came from, 1 Corinthians 3:19. “For the wisdom of this world is
foolishness with God. For it is written: ‘I will catch the wise in their own
craftiness.’”
Caught,
all I could do was shake my head and laugh. Maybe I finally learned my lesson
about the endless To-Do-List, the one extending months in advance. Perhaps I
should model myself a bit more like Aesop’s grasshopper, with only a tiny bit
of ant mixed in….
