A Series of Ifs

I wrote this poem last Saturday night...as poetry, it's probably horrendous, but hopefully you'll find some inspiration from the content. It's hard when our plans are changed or interrupted, but God does know best. And sometimes He has to change our plans so that we remember Who is really in control.

I’m building my life on a series of ifs

Because only God knows the when,
My plans are made up of castles in the air
Constantly lost to the wind.

I dream and I muse, making grandiose plans,
That take my soul far ‘cross the land,
I achieve much greatness and effect many changes,
In important works take a stand.

My plans are laid out with much thought and much care,
I’m fully convinced they are right,
They accord with God’s principles, surely they do,
With tenacity, I hold them tight.

Yet often I see, as I hold my plans sacred,
They begin to slip through my fingers.
It saddens me much to part from them thus—
Yet hurts more the longer I linger.

Life without plans is frightfully alarming,
I must know where I’m headed to survive.
If I don’t know the plan, I can’t take the next step,
How else can I remain alive?

The longer I live—the more plans I see crumble—
It becomes harder to trust
In the truth of God’s promise that His way is best,
But still I do know that I must.

Time after time, God changes my plans,
And I ask Him incessantly “Why?”
The truth is that His plan is better than mine,
He is far wiser than I.

My plans are but dust, His firm as a rock,
Without Him, I stumble and fall.
When I keep to His way, my pathway is steady,
He won’t let me fail once and for all.

When my path is my own and none of it His,
Ifs are the base for my plans.
When my path is His, and I commit to Him,
My life’s in the very best hands.