Tuesday 4 Planning

 Planning

Seeing Ahead

Welcome back friends to Tuesday 4!

A wise man once said that most people fall into their lives. They don't plan and carry out what they would like to do, they just fall into things through circumstances. Others plan and prepare for life. They know the kind of person they want to spend their life with, the kind of family, home or job they wish to have and make a concerted effort to follow through.

So what about you?

1. Did you plan to be where you are right now in life or did you just end up where you are?

I really don't think I had a whole lot to do with it. My life has been entirely in God's hands since the beginning of time. I may have thought I was the one making the plans, but come to find out it was God all the while.  It was nice of Him to let me think I had something to say about it...but in reality it was totally up to Him all the time.

13 

Psalm 139:13-16

"13 For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them."

2. What plans did you make for your future and what plans do you have for the future now or are you just marking time?

Well, again, I know this probably doesn't make sense to a lot of people today, but truly my plans were not my plans.  We kept thinking that one day we would end up living in a certain place and working at a special place that we always dreamed about. My hubby spent a lot of  his years of study and career "plans" preparing for that hoped for event. After many attempts to reach that goal only to be rejected time and time again we finally realized that was not what God's plans were for us at all. Those were our dreams, but in hindsight we can now understand why it was not the best thing for us and we are thankful that God protected us from doing what we thought was right when it really wouldn't have been right at all. 

8 

Isaiah 55:8-9

“8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Our plans for the future now are to live life to the best we can each day, giving thanks to God for His provision and protection and health.  We are very thankful for the ways He has provided for us in our retirement years, as we truly did not have a plan.  We served God in the pastoral ministry for the majority of our working years, along with also working in the field of education. We did not end up with a good pension plan due to frequent moves and being in very small churches, etc., so what little we were able to attain has been taking good care of us, again thanks to God's provision and careful budgeting.  However, we do not regret living the kind of life that we lived. It was interesting and fulfilling and rewarding in ways that are way beyond our earthly expectations.   I believe the best is yet to come.

3. Do you live where you want to live or would you have done things differently when planning where to live?

We enjoy living where we live now primarily because this is where our kids are, and we have a good church and a convenient community in which to live. It is affordable and peaceful.  If we could have planned differently or had more financial ability, we might have chosen to live in the mountains or someplace "cooler" than where we are now, or at least where there is more of a change of seasons.  But we have learned that every place has its good points and drawbacks.  Yes, Florida has hurricanes. However, thankfully we live in the part of the state that rarely is hit by the full force of hurricanes. We are in the more north/central part of the state, at least an hour's drive from either coast.  It seems to be the best place to be to avoid the brunt of those storms. We are very thankful for that.  Oh, and it was 69 degrees this morning when we woke up! That's a good sign that fall is on its way! Of course, it made it up to 90 degrees by the afternoon...but still, we will be thankful for what we can get!

4. What is planned for this coming Autumn? Trips or plans with family or friends?

vacations? holiday plans?\Reading list?

I am excited that we are actually going to be taking a little trip later this month.  We have a family reunion coming up in North Carolina, at my brother's daughter's home. 

(pictures from their home when we were there before)

We have done that several times in the past, but the last one was in the fall of 2019, 

before the big ugly "C" word.  We haven't been all together again since then.  We will be traveling with our kids and then after the reunion is over we will head over to the mountains in north Georgia for a few more days, staying at an Airbnb with the kids.  We are really looking forward to that...and pray the weather will be a bit cooler...and maybe we can get some fresh apples and enjoy some fall fun around the firepit and make some s'mores.  

That's all the plans we have for now, which is really a lot for us!  

I am writing this on Labor Day evening. We had a lovely day...again some things were planned, and some things were not.  We started out the morning by laboring as we rearranged some of the living room furniture, per hubby's request. He wanted to move his recliner and side table closer to the TV because he seems to be having difficulty seeing it from a distance. So we moved everything around, switching chairs, tables, lamps, etc.  He lived with it for most of the day, and then this evening he decided that it really wasn't working out the way he hoped it would. And so we put it all back the way it was originally.  One good thing was we were able to sweep up the dirt from under the chairs and tables and clean the floor a bit better! LOL. 

   

And then the best part of the day was the kids came over for supper, bringing most of the stuff to make spaghetti and garlic bread and dessert (a pumpkin roll!! Yum). I made a salad.  We had a lovely evening...a fun way to end a laborious  labor day. LOL.

I hope your day was filled with some joy and relaxation, if at all possible!!

Thank you for joining in to make Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 a success.