Let God Plan Your Day
Is planning your daily affairs frustrating? Do you encounter a lack of time needed to get things done? Unexpected interruptions that throw you off schedule? Not enough activities to fill the time?
It could be that it's time to seek God's guidance in planning your day. That's not difficult to do, especially when you think of God as the divine Mind, the creator, the source of intelligence that drives our daily activities.
God has a plan for each of us. We can put our affairs in His hands, with confidence, when we realize that the result of trusting God will always be good. Not only for us but for those we deal with. One of the best ways to get going is to pray. We can ask God to help us with everything in our lives.
Now, God is Spirit, and He doesn't concern Himself with arranging material, human events. And because we are actually His image - spiritual - we find Him providing harmony in our human affairs as we acknowledge Him to be our sole source of activity. Through spiritual understanding, the way opens up in our lives for activities to fall into place in the best possible way. As we find that God is the source of all that is good, learn that He loves us and that He wants only what is best for us, we feel an assurance. And this prayer helps us plan our time more successfully and with greater ease.
Take some hints from the Bible, like this one from the book of Proverbs: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (3:5, 6). These are words of truth that you can count on to help you. The need is for yielding to thoughts that express divine intelligence.
Prayer provides opportunities to listen to the good things God is telling us about ourselves, especially about our spiritual nature. As we acknowledge Him to be omnipresent, we're positioning ourselves to tune in to His 24-hour-a-day communication system, where helpful, constructive thoughts are constantly coming. And these ideas will guide us to plan our affairs effectively.
During his ministry, Christ Jesus managed to be where he needed to be at the best time to help others. He was available when people needed guidance and when they needed healing. We can learn from Jesus, whose teaching shows that our own plans, when directed by God, will bring good to the people we deal with. For example, prayer to make our activities more God-directed often results in having business associates say that our timing is just right regarding some important deal; in finding that our participation in some social event was most appropriate; in learning that we have shared a helpful, healing idea with someone greatly in need of it. "When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path," says "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the textbook of Christian Science, written by Mary Baker Eddy (Pg. 254).
Many are the times I've reached out to God for help in making my own plans. I might say, or think within, "OK, God, I need Your help because it's important that I get this right." In this, I take time to be quiet and to listen for His guidance. And the guidance always comes!
When a university student, I was asked to take over the advertising department of my school's daily newspaper. This was at a time when the bulk of the paper's revenue had been supplied by cigarette manufacturers. This cigarette advertising was canceled because of adverse publicity about the dangers of smoking. I relied on God to plan my daily activities. New ways of generating income came to me as a result of time spent praying to God, and they proved to be effective. The result was an increase in total revenue and national recognition for my efforts.
You'll find it natural to joyously give God the credit for guiding your own activities. And as you do this, you'll see more and more evidence of divine Mind's direction in your life.
