‘Future’ by Ahmed Carter (unsplash.com)
Thought for the Week
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye
~“Teach Your Children” (Graham Nash)
It’s planning time. Remember back at the start of 2020 when a lot of pundits (including me) couldn’t resist using the term “2020 vision” in their predictions for the coming year?
Ah, well, so much for “the best laid plans of mice and men.”
If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that our plans for what we’ll do in the coming year, much less our entire lives, no matter how well-thought-out, can never be certain. So, did 2020 teach us not to make plans? Of course not. But it did remind us to include if/then contingencies in our plans, and even so to brace ourselves for the unforeseeable (worldwide pandemic, anyone?).
But there is one thing we can plan with certainty:
Who we will be. Because the key to this kind of planning lies not in knowing what will happen, but in how we’ll respond. What values and truths will we live by? Will they be so inseparable from our character that they inform all of our actions and choices no matter what happens? Will we live out those values in the midst of unforeseen tragedies? Or windfalls? (More people’s values collapse during the latter than the former.) And so what? Why is it important?
It’s important because ultimately (and “ultimately” will happen—we can plan on it), it won’t be what we did that mattered…
But who we were.
Mitch Teemley 
Well said, Mitch. It’s not so much what will happen, but how I will respond.
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Exactly, David, and Happy New Year!
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This year taught me that I actually do stick to my values even in extreme circumstances. It’s one of the things I’m proud of. This year my partner and I are making three goals if the pandemic resolves but also three goals for ourselves no matter what the outer circumstances are. This is a helpful guide.
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My values guide my planning and flexibility is one of my values. If the world doesn’t go the way I planned, I know I can chart a course that keeps me going towards the ultimate – even if I have to side track or back track to get to the right path.
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Excellent. Staying on-vector, as pilots say.
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Love this! Yes, who we were (are) and our effect on others’ lives is all that matters.
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what you will be in 4546
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I don’t know what you mean, Rudy. If I lived to the year 4546 I would be 2,326 years old.
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4545-4547 you left 2022 in tag
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I have no idea what you mean, Rudy. But I think you’re talking about math, not years.
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A very insightful post. It seems the older I get, the more myself I want to be.
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The best plan there is, Liz.
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Any other would really be doomed to fail, wouldn’t it?
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Mitch, Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I am very grateful that I stumbled across your blog or that you stumbled across mine– I can’t remember which now–but I am particularly grateful that you have been so proactive in promoting other bloggers, including me. You really exemplify what it means to shine with the light of Christ, my brother. Keep the flame alight, my friend.
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Aw, thank you so much, Steve. And ditto, my friend!
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Well said. It matters who we are, who we belong to. In the end, standing with Christ Jesus matters. Everything else is rubbish in comparison.
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Very wise, perfectly stated guidance for the new year. It brings James 4:13-15 to mind wherein the writer says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.'” Happy New Year!
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You too, Russ!
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I think of my dad every time I drink a cold Coca-Cola; I mean from the classic glass bottle with water dripping down the sides. Such was our bonding ritual–sharing a cold Coke at some “hole-in-the-wall” establishment.
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That’s a thought. The outcome may be the result of some big and unique challenges. Season’s greetings Mitch!
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You too!
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Amid the storm of 2020, it’s such a blessing to be reminded that God is in control and that no matter what, He will work all things to our benefit. I’ve experienced this personally, this past year. Your post is full of wisdom and engages true inner reflection.
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Thank you, Mark, and good to meet you.
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A pleasure to meet you, as well, Mitch.
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Yes — wish we had helped young people focus more on being than doing but maybe this past year can be a restart button. This post reminds me of that trending meme I have come to like: “In a world where you can be anything — Be Kind.” Best “of” you in the New Year, Mitch, Jane
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Aw, thank you, Jane. You too!
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How true! And Happy New Year to you and your family, Mitch!
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Thank you, Kathy, and to you and yours as well!
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