Texas Heart Journal | Page 005

I was supposed to do something yesterday.

Nothing dramatic. Nothing life-changing.

It was simply something I had decided I would get done.

And I didn't.

Today came anyway.

And somewhere between thinking about what I didn't finish yesterday and everything waiting for me today, I had this thought:

You can be late to the plan without being late to your life.

I think sometimes we forget that.

We make plans. We set dates. We decide by when something should happen.

By this age.

By this month.

By this season.

By Tuesday.

And when life doesn't cooperate with the timeline we've created, it's easy to start feeling like we're behind.

But behind whom?

And according to whose clock?

I've lived enough life now to know that some of the things I thought should have happened sooner wouldn't have fit the woman I was then.

Some things needed more time.

Some dreams needed to change shape.

Some doors needed to stay closed.

Some plans needed to fall apart.

And sometimes, I simply needed another day.

That's not failure.

That's life.

There are days when you don't get everything done.

Days when the list stays half checked.

Days when somebody you love needs you more than the thing you planned to accomplish.

Days when you're tired.

Days when the idea isn't ready.

Days when you're not ready.

And there are seasons when what you thought would take six months takes two years.

That doesn't mean you quit.

It doesn't mean you missed your chance.

And it certainly doesn't mean God forgot where you were going.

God isn't checking your calendar.

I've been thinking about that one.

Because I can be very good at putting expectations on myself that God never asked me to carry.

I can decide when something should happen and then get frustrated when it doesn't...as though my timeline was somehow part of the promise.

But maybe faith also means allowing God to work outside the little boxes I've drawn around my plans.

Maybe the detour isn't ruining the story.

Maybe the delay isn't ruining the story.

Maybe the day I didn't get it done isn't ruining the story.

He's still writing it.

So today, I'm picking it back up.

No guilt.

No dramatic declaration that I'm starting over.

I'm not starting over.

I'm continuing.

There's a difference.

I'm taking what I know now, what I've lived through, what I've learned, what didn't work, what changed, what survived...and I'm moving from here.

Maybe you need permission to do the same.

Pick the dream back up.

Open the notebook again.

Make the call.

Try the thing.

Say the prayer.

Go back to the plan you thought you'd ruined because you didn't follow it perfectly.

You don't need a new Monday.

A new month.

A new year.

Or some perfect moment when everything finally lines up.

You can begin again at 2:17 on a Wednesday afternoon if that's when your heart is ready.

Because you can be late to the plan without being late to your life.

And maybe you aren't late at all.

Maybe you're arriving with exactly the wisdom, strength, faith and story you're supposed to have when you get there.

Pick it back up.

God's not finished.

And neither are you.

He's still writing the story. 🤎

Texas Heart Journal | Page 005