At the beginning of every year, I used to review my desk calendar and plan all the vacation days I could expect to enjoy. It gave me something to look forward to. Days off etched in stone, and I wasn’t very happy if anything messed with my vacation plans.

Well, I stopped planning vacation days a few years ago. Now I just wait until the next doctor’s appointment and whittle away the days, hour by hour, until they are all gone. I’m thankful I have a lot of them.

Last year I ran out of vacation days before Christmas. This year, the flu landed my sister in the hospital for five days and recovering at or another full week. No, I didn’t plan to use up half of my vacation days before the end of January.

What I’ve learned is to take each day as it comes. No firm plans, no disappointments. What I mean by that is not holding firm to my plans.

James 4:13-15 says we should not boast about our plans for tomorrow because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. He says life is so short and describes it as “a mist”. We should instead say “if it is the Lord’s will, we will do this or that.”

That doesn’t mean we aren’t to have goals and plans in mind. It means that we must first seek God’s will for them. Bathe them in prayer. I believe doing this reduces the disappointment of dashed dreams and dwelling on disappointment can take us down the road of depression and resentment. This is a road filled with consequences that can potentially wipe out the good things God has planned (Jeremiah 29:11).

Ps 37:4 says delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Focus on, yield to, seek, and delight yourself in the LORD and His desires may just become yours, too. Then, be surprised because God can do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

I hope to plan vacation days again someday, and I’m sure I will, but those plans will be written very lightly in pencil because God has even bigger plans.