Opening my planning notebook, I stared, fixated at the date of the last entry. It had been exactly three weeks. Vivid memories of that day rushed through my mind. A week of back-to-back appointments had left me feeling exhausted and out of control. Wanting to break the pattern of overcrowding my days, I had set aside time to plan for the coming week. 

But before I could finish creating my To Do List, the phone calls started coming: the Executive Director of my mother’s Assisted Living Facility; the personal caretaker we hired for my mother; my brother; my sister. All the calls pointed to a painful reality: my mother’s health had taken a sudden turn for the worse. 

Within a few days my husband and I made our way across the country. Together with my siblings we arranged for my mother to receive hospice care and to make her as comfortable as possible. Now, back home, I began the task of resuming the routines of my life.

As I scanned through the partial To Do List, I realized almost every item on the list still needed to be addressed. I crossed out the original date and wrote in the current one. As I continued to add items to the list, I pondered the whole planning process.

Some of us (like me) love to plan. Maybe it’s even part of our DNA. And it delights my soul to know that the Bible supports the wisdom of planning:

The plans of the diligent lead to profit
     as surely as haste leads to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5 NIV)

God encourages us to plan. But there is a caveat. His plans ultimately will take precedence over ours:

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
     but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21 NIV)

I’ve heard it said that God always has a Plan B. But I wonder if we have that backwards. What if our plans are ultimately Plan B? 

All the items I planned to complete paled in comparison with caring for my mom. The time we spent with her, our efforts to honor her and to make her comfortable ~ these were the best ways to spend our time and energy. As the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us:

There is a time for everything,
     and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NIV)

God alone knows the seasons and the times for what we are called to do. So when He calls us to pivot our plans, the new plan, His plan, becomes Plan A.

I hope and pray to return to my mother and be with her when her time comes. But I don’t know when that will be. So I continue to plan, and ask the Lord to intervene and redirect my steps when needed. Ultimately, I pray to trust His plan.

Wherever the road takes us next, I know we will face disruptions in the plans we make. I pray we can trust and embrace the One who always gives us Plan A.