Sunday morning’s are filled with the sweet melody of praises at churches all around the world. We gather together with other believers to sing and worship the Lord. We listen to compelling messages from earnest pastors who long for us to see Christ in the Word and share Him with the world. We pray, we hug, we share, and we give. And then we leave. We walk out of the meeting place and walk back into everyday life. What if what we heard, what we sung, what we prayed, and what we gave overflowed into the everyday? What if we didn’t limit the work of God to Sunday morning’s and welcomed His movement in the everyday of being a wife, mom, student, daughter, employer, employee, and woman? What if we didn’t just sing lyric’s like “Holy Spirit, You are welcome here,” but prayed them earnestly at the start of each week when we fill out our planners?

Holy Spirit, You are welcome here.

Everyday we make plans, to-do lists, and fill our agenda’s with meetings, projects, and things that need to get done. I am guilty of filling in every single half hour increment with either a meeting or a goal. Many of you can testify with me that rarely does a day go exactly as planned. Your child spills milk on your shirt right before you are about to walk out the door. You get ready in five minutes only to realize your work pants are still at the dry cleaners and have to start your outfit from scratch! You are running behind to get to a meeting only to be rear-ended by the driver behind you. You forget that phone call you needed to make. The list goes on and on of how our days are often interrupted and less than ideal. What if we gave the Holy Spirit our planners each day and welcomed Him into the planning, the scheduling, and the changes? How different would your attitude be when your perfectly scheduled day changed?

The truth is, God is in control of every second on the clock. He runs the clock. He owns the clock. The clock runs for His glory! If you have never seen the inside of a clock or a watch, take a second to google it. There are countless pieces that make up the inside of a clock that are hidden from the eye. Every single wheel turns in a different motion at a different speed. Every part has a significant role in making the minute hand go round and round in a perfect motion. Each motion turns so that time can be told. In the same way, every piece of your life and your day is spinning in perfect motion for the glory of God. This includes the things that happen in your days that were unplanned and sometimes unwelcome. God is doing a work bigger than we could imagine with our planners and with our days. We must give Him the pen to erase, rewrite, and remake our days. 

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.

That brings me to this challenge – give your planner to the Lord. Give Him your plans, your dreams, your ideas, and your schedule. Proverbs 19:21 tells us this comforting and humbling truth, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” God’s ways stand. They are forever. They are perfect. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that His ways that will be accomplished and they are not like our ways. They are higher and they are greater! The more we welcome the Holy Spirit into planning our days and changing our plans, the more we will experience God’s infinite, perfect grace in the midst of our routines. We will see Him flood our days with gospel-centered mission rather than a me-centered focus. That is the life Jesus came to give us – a life of purpose, passion, and pursuit of Him.

Your glory, God, is what our heart’s long for.

We were made to crave His glory in our lives of purpose, passion, and pursuit. In the beginning of creation, God made all things glorious and perfect. Sin robbed mankind of God’s immense, perfect glory. But Christ redeemed us when He gave up His throne in glory to come and live as a human being, being tempted in every way, accomplishing the will of the Father, dying on a cross for our sins and being raised to life on the third day! We were made to hunger for His glory in the everyday. And the only way we can do this is through surrender and through saying – “Holy Spirit, here is my planner.” Here is my life, my dreams, my goals, my pursuits, my loves, my family, my passions, my joys, and my days. In this surrendering and handing over the pen comes an incredible promise and fulfillment. 

To be overcome by Your presence, Lord.

We will live overcome by God’s incredible presence. Brother Lawrence, a monk in the 17th century, displayed this life of deep surrender. He was a cake baker in a monastery in France and wrote of His deep, abiding love for Christ in his everyday work. He was overcome by God’s glory in the everyday routine. In his book “The Practice of the Presence of God” he said “We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.” When we hand over to God our planners and our day-to-day activities, He redeems them and fills them with joy. Instead of viewing the mundanes of motherhood with disdain, we can embrace the joys of laundry, cooking, cleaning, making beds, and changing diapers as an opportunity to be in communion with the presence of God. This changes everything. This is the life we were meant to live.

Holy Spirit, we hand You our planners, our pursuits, and our passions. Guide us, use us, and reveal to us the glory of God in the everyday. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

handing Him my plans and my planner,

Gretchen

1. In what ways do you hold onto your planner with a tight grip? Read James 4:14-15. How does this Scripture change your perspective?
2. Do you do the little things for God’s glory? How could meditating on His goodness throughout your daily routine bring abundant joy to the everyday mundane and make it glorious?

(Lyrics to “Holy Spirit” by Bryan and Katie Torwalt)

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