what’s your PLAN?

A few posts ago I wrote about my acronym P.E.A.C.E.  Each day I ask the Holy Spirit to breath life into each part of the P.E.A.C.E acronym.  He helps me with my Plans, he fuels my Efforts, he balances my Attitude, He helps me get along with and draw strength from the Community of people I live and run with and I ask him to give me the discipline to do the things for my body that gives me Energy.  No day is ever perfect but most days are productive.

As a recovering person I have found how important it is to have a daily Plan.  My first sponsor was a stickler about carrying a calendar book at all times and planning each day the night before.  I really had a hard time with this in the beginning.  I don’t know if it was due to the fact I have a touch of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or because I simply wasn’t disciplined to do it.  Over the years I have found a common denominator among those of us with addiction problems is a general lack of discipline coupled with immature behavior (I was always good at being disciplined and mature when I was doing things I wanted to do…go figure…selfish, self serving)  Today discipline means doing what God wants me to do, whether I like it or not.  Thus the reason I ask him to guide me with my Plans.  Proverbs 16:3 Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed.

Another problem planning has helped me with is the emotional mood swings that many of us in recovery experience in the beginning.  Having a plan allows us to stay off the pity pot and direct our energies and emotions outward instead of inward.  When we get up in the morning with a plan and we try our best to carry it out, we leave little time for the committee in our heads to get going.

Today I carry a journal and in that journal is my Life Mission Statement and I read that Mission Statement every day “To make a difference in God’s world in all my roles and responsibilities.” I find if my plans are derived from my Mission Statement I am a productive child of God if they aren’t I become a wayward child of the World.  In my journal I write a weekly plan on Sunday and then throughout the week I summarize each day in the evening and create a plan for the following day.  My journal also contains my morning devotional and evening summary for the day.  It doesn’t work perfectly but it works for me.  I always take time in late summer and early fall to reflect and draw direction from God on what direction my plans are to take for the following year.

If you often find yourself uptight, emotional, straying off the God path or just plain unproductive get a Plan.  BUT-for those perfectionists out there don’t let the plan drive you crazy if you are unable to carry it out.  There will be interruptions, setbacks and just plain rewrites.  But I have found I would much rather have a plan go wrong than to have no plan at all.

What’s your Plan?

P.E.A.C.E