In many years of following Christ, I have only recently stopped being surprised when I find myself charging ahead and plotting my life with little pause or invitation for God to lead me, rather than for me to run ahead and hope he "catches up".

It doesn't surprise me anymore, because I have demonstrated consistently that I am capable of repeating that mistake over and over. Many of us, if we were feeling honest, could point to a variety of ways in which we run ahead, form our plans, set our expectations, and then shoot something up resembling a prayer asking God to stamp said plans.

Our theology tells us this is upside down. Our Bibles tell us this is misordered. But we still do it, thinking we have all the necessary ingredients to know what's next and make a fulfilled life.

What we need instead, is to trust that God is for us and ahead of us. Only then can we believe that he desires to do good, and we are wise to wait for him to reveal his plans. He is even willing to invite us in those plans, if we would only let him be our vision.