S56P14 – Ecclesiastical truths: hitting all the bases

Ecc. 11:6

Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle with your hands in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening planting will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

She never had a plan B.  She figured that, if she put in the work and did what she had to do, plan A would work out just fine.  So, she got the grades she needed, took her entrance exams, and applied to her dream school.  Many people told her that she should bear the expense of applying to some safety schools just in case her dream did not work out.  She, on the other hand, thought that taking those steps would show a lack of faith in her abilities to get accepted where she wanted to go.  The next several months were a period of confident expectation as she waited for her acceptance letter.  When she found out that she had been wait-listed, the world seemed to stop.  There was no time to apply to other schools for fall acceptance, and she was at the mercy of chance.  Ultimately, that decision postponed her education an entire year.

We all have heard that it is better to be safe than to be sorry.  It might be a trite saying, but it is very true.  Successful life is about preparation and commitment.  There are times when we might make idols of our abilities or our past successes, and we begin to think that we are just too good to fail.  We must be careful not to overstep the bounds of confidence and begin operating out of foolish pride.  Confidence says that we can achieve what we put our minds to.  Foolish pride says that there is no way our plans will not work out.  It is foolish pride that leaves us unprepared when our work does not produce the fruit we expect.  Nothing is perfect, and we live in a world that is littered with unknowns.  We should be shrewd enough to expect the best yet prepare for the worst, because we are not in a position to predict the future.

We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world, and our successes can be rather tenuous.  When we do not find success in a certain area, it might be the case that we simply needed to do something more or do something different.  If we really want to make things happen, we must survey all possible ways of reaching the goals we set.  We can put all of our eggs in one basket and follow one route, or we can bolster our chances of success by being creative and versatile with our approach.  Having a plan B or even a plan C is not a sign of doubt; it is a sign of being committed to harvesting that choice fruit.  Father, open our eyes to the possibilities in front of us, that we would approach our work in a way that will successfully yield the fruit we envision.