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You Never Know (the power of planning your 2009)
You never know!
The beginning of a new year is a
perfect time for reassessment. We look back and take stock. We look forward and
try to 'predict' our future - with as much hope as we can muster. New
Year's resolutions: do you have them? Goals: have you set new ones? We never
plan to fail, we usually fail to plan, and we often justify not planning or
goal-setting because of past disappointments - "it only took me 5 days to break
my resolution to ..."! But you never know!
Have you ever looked back and seen the real power of planning? With hindsight
let's look back at our planning and 'powers of prediction'.
Looking
around at all the snow, I'm reminded of the many winter days I (Mick) spent as a
child staring out the window praying for snow - and how rarely my prayers were
answered. Yet today, we live in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. You
never know!
If you've heard our story, you will know that we moved to Dallas, TX from
England in 1987, expecting to return after 2-3 years. Twenty-one years later,
we're still here. You never know!
In 1990, just as we were facing an enforced return to the UK, we were introduced
to NSA by my boss in IBM. You never know!
After resigning from IBM to make our permanent home in Dallas, we focused on our
new business, and Mick thought we would quickly rise to the top. Yet, after 3
years working hard (but not working 'the system' because Mick was not
'teachable'!), we had achieved very little, and our savings were fast
disappearing - help! You never know!
Then came Juice Plus+: powerful beyond belief, and in 1995 we
BOTH
crossed the stage at Conference as new National Marketing
Directors. You
never know!
In
1997 we sold our house and all our 'stuff', bought an RV and planned to
travel
all over North America for 2 years. Those two years turned into four. You
never know!
During that time we bought some land in the Colorado Rockies, and in 2001 we
started building a new home. You
never know!
We have long wanted a beach home,
especially as an escape from Colorado winters. Last year, after vacationing in
Belize, we bought a 2-month
fractional ownership and in future will spend April and May there each year.
You never know!
Having built our dream home, we planned
to stay here forever. We love our church and all our many friends. But ...
you never know!
Our
family is growing. We now have 3 grandsons, eagerly
anticipating many more, so
we decided to have our sons (who are great at home building)
build us a bigger home, closer to our
grandchildren ... in Eagle. You never know!
The
rest is history! We broke ground in
Eagle, CO on August 25th, and we expect
completion this summer. Once again ... you never know!
Soon after putting our house up for
sale, the markets 'tanked': we had only 4 showings in 5 months! We feared that
our timing was really bad. However, the 4th person who came to see it fell in
love with it and we close on March 13th (perfect timing). You never know!
No doubt you have a story not unlike
ours. 20-20 hindsight shines a cold light on our 'powers of prediction', yet
that doesn't mean we shouldn't plan. In fact, so many of the great things that
have happened are the result of plans that looked good, that gave us committed
direction and focus, that sometimes came to fruition, but many times were
eventually replaced by something very different, and often much better. That is
God's way and you never know!
Looking back we now see life as a deep, deep mystery. There is a realm to what
happens in this life that we know very little about. We find clues in the Bible
but, this side of heaven, I doubt we will ever be certain about how God makes it
possible for our dreams to come true. But our experiences tell us that God truly
is a loving Father who wants to give us the desires of our heart. In no way do
we deserve what He has given us; we are just blessed with what we now have and
with the journey we are still on. You never know!
In looking forward to 2009 and beyond we can echo with enthusiasm the sentiments
of Proverbs 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding." Disappointments will surely come – the key thing to
remember is to trust God for the rest of the story. You never know!
We hope our story encourages you to
look to the future with hope. Hope is always accompanied by faith. Trusting God
means having faith, and faith empowers hope.
You just never know - and
that is the point! And now for the rest of your story ... be hopeful; have
faith; dream your dreams, set your goals, and be open to watching a different,
better plan unfold before your eyes … and the beauty of it is: you will never
know ... until you know!
There's lots of help with
planning and goal setting here at teamjp.net. We are here for you, believe in you and want to help you;
let us know how.
Looking
around at all the snow, I'm reminded of the many winter days I (Mick) spent as a
child staring out the window praying for snow - and how rarely my prayers were
answered. Yet today, we live in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. You
never know!
In looking forward to 2009 and beyond we can echo with enthusiasm the sentiments
of Proverbs 3:5: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your
own understanding." Disappointments will surely come – the key thing to
remember is to trust God for the rest of the story. You never know!