Plans. I love them.
There was this activity that I was part of a few years back and the guy who was the project leader was very good at the job. He got the group of us together, explained what the desired outcome was and then asked us what we suggested would be the best way to achieve that outcome. We went away in pairs and put down as many ideas as we could think of to help to gain what had been set for us. When we got together we shared what we had put together and the project leader took a back-seat in the ensuing discussions going over what we had all proposed. It was a very interactive and provocative meeting with ideas being debated and challenged and supported. The project leader brought the meeting to a close by saying he would consider what we had suggested and encouraged us to go away and pray about had taken place.
The next meet we all met, the project leader gave us a chance to share if we had come across anything in the period to pray and reflect. It was intriguing how some people confessed that their comments might have been too aggressive and apologised offering a more considered view on some of the suggestions. This had a tremendously calming effect on us as a group. It also provided the environment for one or two other views to be shared on how we could achieve the desired outcome. As those were shared, we all saw great wisdom in those approaches. It wasn’t just about getting a quick-win, or it looked flashy. There was some substance in the proposals and it was well reasoned.
The project leader was suitably impressed and then offered how those new suggestions blended in beautifully with his own consideration of what had been proposed in the previous meeting. He outlined the approach he had felt would be right and gave room for others to offer constructive comments on it. A few chimed in with those constructive comments which he took on board. As it looked like there was a consensus on the plan ahead, he did challenged us to consider what did it mean to commit our ways to the Lord. Even though we had prayed previously about it, and were very much mindful to let God be in charge of the project, there was still a great concern to see if what we had put forward was something that God would be pleased by. It could not be our presumption. It was crucial that it was His leading. Such was the sense of concern on the matter that the project leader took on a suggestion by one of the team that we should leave it until the next time we met and see if there were any developments.
When we met the next time, I’ll never forget the sense of resolve, focus and commitment to being solely loyal to what God wanted us to do. It was not just something the project leader portrayed, it was something that a lot of us felt in the room. What was particularly remarkable was that one of the quieter members of the team was the first to calmly but confidently assert that it was right that we should go with the plan we had left the last meeting with. He also said he was confident that as we walked along that plan, God in His goodness would provide any alterations that were needed to go with His flow, but it was good for us to begin with a joint focus on what we had left at the last meeting. That resonated with the majority of the group and those who were not fully persuaded at the time were more than happy to see how it went for the time being.
I don’t recall ever being part of a project that was in sync with each other. And desirous to be in sync with God and His leading. It was a beautiful thing and I for one certainly felt that we had committed our ways to the Lord and allow his leading. Unsurprisingly, that was one of the most successful projects I’ve been a part of, not primarily because of gaining the desired outcome – in fact the outcome was very different to what we had first thought about, but was all the better for it. What really made the experience one of the most fulfilling for me, was that sense of giving God priority and primacy in all that we did and endeavouring to remain so sensitive to His leading through any of us. A beautiful experience.
All based on us learning what it was to commit our ways to the Lord.
Even those plans that I love.
(Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 