Scripture
Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.
JAMES 4:13-15
Quotes/Color
“The fact is, most big decisions in life leave us feeling a little unsettled.”
Kevin DeYoung
“‘Go back?’ he thought. ‘No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!’ So up he got, and trotted along with his little sword held in front of him and one hand feeling the wall, and his heart all of a patter and a pitter.”
J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit
Context
A Passage for Type A Personalities
If you’re not Type A and freely go through your life without micromanaging, over-planning and preparing for the smallest of details, feel free to skip this part… You did it. You’re doing a great job. But for the rest of us…
This passage is a real comfort to the Type A personality. And a challenge.
Do you white-knuckle your way through life at times? Vigorously plan your finances and travels according to a set of benchmarks you’ve created in your own mind? Do you delay certain events in life (decisions on jobs/future, having children, going or not going on a vacation) until you meet a certain set of internal standards that finally tell you, “You’re ready for this. Now you can do this.”
This is me to a tee. You may be the same.
My temptation as a Type A person is to only proceed with things that I feel absolutely confident on. I can only do something if I’ve mentally prepared for it, physically prepared for it and financially prepared for it. If I don’t do all of the above, I am paralyzed and feel that I can’t move forward.
High School Boys Are Not Normal People
One of my dear friends, who I led a bible study of high schoolers with, is this way too. Very on top of his things. Great at preparing. Type A.
One week came when he decided to tell our high school guys that he and his wife were expecting their first child together. They were nervous and excited, like most everyone is. But he wanted to share this fun news with our high school guys to share with them in celebration.
Now… Picture what normal people say in these situations. A situation where a young couple shares that they are having a baby. They are nervous. They are excited. They wonder to themselves, “I wonder if I will be a good parent. I wonder if I am ready for this.” Things like that.
And in response… Normal people say encouraging things like…
“Oh my gosh, congrats! You guys are going to be such incredible parents!”
“Wow, I am so excited for you guys! That is one lucky baby!”
These are great examples of what normal people say in situations like this. Well. High school boys are not normal people…
My dear friend had a moment of vulnerability at the end of our lesson and decided to share with our high school boys that he and his wife were having a baby girl, and that they were due in a few months. First responses… A few “Nice!’ comments. A couple, “Congrats, way to go!” Good so far… Then, from one guy in the group…
“Wait… Wait… WHAT? Mark… Seriously? Are you ready for that? WHAT? Aren’t you scared? Your whole life is gonna change, you’re gonna have to keep up with a kid all the time… Are you sure you are ready for that?”
He was totally serious. Not joking at all. Just a high school guy looking in good faith at his small group leader and saying, “Mm, I don’t think this guy is ready for this.”
So good. We crack up about that story to this day.
Application
You Might Not Be Ready… And That’s Okay
The application for this passage in James for the Type A personality is that you may not in fact be ready for these changes in your life… And that is okay. We are seldom ready for big moments of change and adjustments to our plans, but that is alright.
It’s alright if there is first a deep trust in God. We all make plans in our lives, just like the front half of the James passage.
“I will make the varsity basketball team and make all A’s in high school at 18.”
“Then I will go to such and such college, major in pre-med, and meet the spouse of my dreams at age 22”
“Then, at age 24 we will get married and at age 27 we will have our first child, first try.”
“And before we have that child I will have this much in savings and I will be in a house that looks just like this.”
And on it goes. If you’re being honest with yourself, you’ve got a pretty good idea of what certain times in your life are going to look like and when you plan on encountering those “big moments” of new places, new jobs, new people, etc…
And if God rocks the boat and upsets some of that timing? Well that might just not work…
The above story about mine and Mark’s high schoolers is hilarious. But I love it because I always remember what Mark said in response too. He said,
“Well of course we are a little bit nervous. But you’re never really ready for big moments in life. And this is no exception. We may not be totally and completely ready… but we’re hopefully ready enough. And we are excited! We know God is with us and we think it will be good.”
Which is so true. If you are a Type A personality and you are waiting for everything to go perfectly according to plan before moving forward with “big moments” in life… You’re going to be sitting around for a long time.
We all have ideas of how long we will be places, and what we will do, and how much profit we will make (like in James 4)… But at the end of the day, what is more important than any of that is not white-knuckling your own plan into existence, but instead being open handed and inviting God’s plan to take place in His timing.
Leave Your Hobbit Hole
I love the quote above from The Hobbit. Because one of the most important themes of the book in my opinion is to “Leave Your Hobbit Hole.”
Hobbits are creatures of habit (like many of us). They like their structured meals in the safety of their homes, little “Hobbit Holes”. They love time of leisure, relaxation and predictability… They’re not courageous creatures. Which is why they are such important characters in Tolkien’s books.
Time and time again throughout The Hobbit, Gandolf pulls Bilbo Baggins out of his comfort zone and calls him into a great adventure. Just like we often need to be drawn out of our comfort and scheduled plans for our lives.
I love the idea of a courageous little Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, wanting desperately to return to the safety and security of his hobbit hole. Finding himself in a time and place he didn’t sign up for… Uncertain if he is prepared or as well equipped as he could be… But deciding, with his heart racing, to persist forward anyways… Because he knows it is the right thing to do.
Bilbo longed for his Hobbit Hole constantly as he was pulled from its comfort. But ultimately found that the adventure was more rewarding than his idea of comfort. It takes courage and trust in God to “Leave Your Hobbit Hole.”
You might not be ready. But that is okay. If the Lord wills, go forward! It is the only thing to do.
Something to Chew On:
- What plans are you clinging to strongly in your life? Where do you have a very particular timeline in mind in your life that you have a hard time letting go of?
- What, if any, is a moment you do not feel ready for? How can you go about loosening your grip on control over this moment and instead being openhanded to God’s timing?
GreatValue Proverb:
You’re right, you’re probably not completely ready. And that is okay.