Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Best Plan

Right now I'm searching for a new exercise plan. I'm halfway through this pregnancy and I need to change up what I'm doing a little to accommodate the space Caleb is taking up. But I gave up on finding the perfect plan. Because what's perfect for another pregnant lady may not be perfect for me for health, lifestyle, or personality reasons. 

A couple of weeks ago I quit a Bible reading plan I started about a month before. I hated it (that feels unspiritual to admit). The concept was to read four chapters in four different places every day and read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice in a year. Once I started it though it seemed so choppy. As soon as I got into the story in one spot it was time to switch gears and go somewhere else. And yes, I did feel like a quitter stopping it but I'm enjoying reading much more now! 

Do you want to know what the best plan is? The best plan is the one you actually do. Someone else may love the Bible reading plan that I hated. After all there is no wrong way to read the Bible. 

photo courtesy of stuart miles/freedigitalphotos.net

Often we look for the plan that will fix all our problems. 
Or the plan that someone else uses.
Or the plan that impresses other people.

But why not find a plan you will actually stick with? Whether it's exercise, or Bible reading, or menu planning, look for something that's practical and even enjoyable. Whether you want to teach your child preschool, or clean your house weekly, or learn to play the violin, pick the plan you can do. 

Maybe it doesn't look impressive. Are you more interested in telling people your Bible reading plan calls for reading ten chapters every day and not reading it or actually reading two chapters consistently every day? Which one is really going to help you? 

Are you more interested in planning the menus or reading how someone else does it? Do you want to clean  your house or research 10,000 different ways to get the work done before you try something? The hard part about picking a plan is that you actually have to do the work to see if the plan works. 

Maybe you'll have to adjust your plan midstream like I'm doing with exercise. Maybe you'll need to quit a plan totally and do something different. That's fine. The glory isn't in the plan; it's in getting the work done. 

Find the plan you can actually do. And then do it. 

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