Plans- Useful or Useless?

What is the most useful, yet useless thing we do as human beings?

Plan stuff.

Plans can be great things; we can plan vacations, plan short-term goals, and plan events with friends and family. Plans help us stay on track, organize our lives and save us tons of time.

However, we can get so mired in plans that we cease to be productive. This is one of my many foibles, because I love making plans. In fact, I'd rather write plans than do them!

Useful plans for our family involve the finances- the household budget, debts, and making sure the Internet stays connected. Trips and visits are also well planned, and most times run smoothly. 

The plans that usually fall under the 'useless' category in my house entail things like the family chores, scheduling my day, and life goals. Any of these plans get rewritten so many times I could provide enough confetti for Mardi Gras for the next century. I had to stop writing these plans down before I became personally responsible for global deforestation. 
Family chores get done when they have to because our schedules are so wonky and are always changing. The same thing goes for my day, and though I can loosely plan to get a few things done, nothing is ever set in stone. When work calls, I drop what I'm doing and go- that's just the way it works here.

As for our life goals, Those have changed so much over the years, that it's not worth the effort to make long term career or life goals. We had grandiose plans for opening a B&B, a restaurant, a fabric/craft shop, or a cafe. Each was planned out as much as possible, only to wind up in the recycle bin the second God decided to point us in a different direction. To be honest though, I think what He has planned for us is going to involve preparing food and being creative!

Now I'm not saying don't make chore schedules or write out life goals. I'm just saying that doesn't work for us. You might be having similar issues with another part of your life; some plans work, and some seem like a waste of good ink. You need to find those out for yourself.

God has other ideas for us than what I wrote down. Have you ever watched that scene in Even Almighty when the businessman says he has all these plans, and God just laughs and laughs? Oh yeah- I make God laugh on a daily basis, because He knows where I'm going and I only think I know. 

In general, plans are a good thing, but try not to get upset when God throws a monkey wrench into the works. That's just His way of saying I have something better for you. And His life plans are more awesome than any plans we can make!