How to Make Your Plan Fit Into God's Plan
We're going to discuss how to make your plan at work fit into God's plan. Our discussion assumes you have at least some vague idea God not only created the world, which includes you, but also that He sustains the world every moment and that everything that happens every moment of every day follows God's plan. Obviously, that would include everything you do at work. It doesn't matter that you may not consciously connect your thoughts, words, and actions at work to God's plan. The fact is, the connection exists. What we're looking for here is first a conscious recognition of that connection; next some way that we can perform our work with the intention of having it fulfill God's plan. Ambitious? Maybe. But it's likely easier to do than you think.
With that in mind, we proceed, beginning with the understanding that most of us have - or should have - some sort of plan at work. If you own a business, you know you can't run it without one. You've got to have some goals and objectives towards which you direct your daily efforts. You measure success or failure based on how well you accomplish these goals and objectives. That's your plan in a nutshell.
It's a bit different for an employee. You're typically directed by your boss to follow some plan that he's concocted, or that he's gotten from his superiors. You're given goals and objectives, upon which any evaluation of your performance is based.
A good plan usually starts with some sort of general overall master plan. That then gets broken down into more specific achievable steps. And when a business has employees, each is given his or her individual goals which will advance the overall goals of the business. (At least that's how things should work. I realize some businesses are better organized than others. But if a business doesn't have at least some rudimentary plan that guides everyone's efforts, you can pretty much assume it will fail.)
Regarding your individual efforts each day, assuming your goals are reasonable (i.e., can reasonably be achieved) specific enough (written down helps here), and clearly understood (you know exactly when you're expected to achieved what), your plan will help you meet your goals, thereby attaining the results upon which your work depends to be considered successfully accomplished.
With this as background, let's now tackle how we might make such a plan fit into God's plan. Why do this? Well, as we mentioned at the start, we Catholics understand that God has a plan for each of us, which is part of a kind of "master plan" for His entire Creation. Everything that happens, down to the smallest detail, happens according to His Plan. Yes, it's mysterious. So much so that many of us choose to ignore what really is and should appear to us as a glaring reality and just go about our business each day, both at work and in our personal lives, never giving God's plan a single thought. That's a mistake, one we need to rectify.
To rectify the situation, we'll start with a simple statement of fact: You work for the greater glory of God - ad maiorem Dei gloriam - each day. (Right? You do, don't you?) How do you specifically connect what you do each day to the "greater glory of God"? Or, to put it another way, how do you connect your plan at work to God's plan?
Next, we note what we're calling "God's Plan" might more accurately be called "Divine Providence." So, question: Do you have to know His plan - i.e., understand Divine Providence - and in some fashion match your thoughts, words, and deeds so that they somehow "fit in" to Divine Providence? Of course not. There's no way we could do this even if we wanted to do it. Remember, we're talking God here - as opposed to us little creatures of His. Maybe we can look at it this way: We simply have no way to discern what God is "thinking," if that's the right term to use here. (I'm no theologian.)
Okay, we've put a lot on the table today. We'll have more to say next time. But before we break for the day, let's make a distinction between intellect and will. Even though it's impossible for us to use our intellect to grasp what God might be "thinking," it's still possible for us to use our will and express the specific desire to connect all that we do to His Divine Will. And it's not hard to do. You simply express your intention to do His Will.
So at work today, you can express your intention like this:
"Dear Lord, I will (fill in: write this email; create this spreadsheet; pay attention to my professor's lecture; install this cable connection in this house; mix this batch of cement...etc.) for Your greater glory. And throughout this day, everything I do to fulfill this day's work plan I will do with the intention of doing Your Will. I don't know specifically how my work will advance your Divine Will. I'll have to leave that up to you. For may part, I offer my sincere effort to do my job the best way I know."
Or something like that. That's not hard to do, is it?
Next time we dig a little deeper to understand better how all this really works.
With that in mind, we proceed, beginning with the understanding that most of us have - or should have - some sort of plan at work. If you own a business, you know you can't run it without one. You've got to have some goals and objectives towards which you direct your daily efforts. You measure success or failure based on how well you accomplish these goals and objectives. That's your plan in a nutshell.
It's a bit different for an employee. You're typically directed by your boss to follow some plan that he's concocted, or that he's gotten from his superiors. You're given goals and objectives, upon which any evaluation of your performance is based.
A good plan usually starts with some sort of general overall master plan. That then gets broken down into more specific achievable steps. And when a business has employees, each is given his or her individual goals which will advance the overall goals of the business. (At least that's how things should work. I realize some businesses are better organized than others. But if a business doesn't have at least some rudimentary plan that guides everyone's efforts, you can pretty much assume it will fail.)
Regarding your individual efforts each day, assuming your goals are reasonable (i.e., can reasonably be achieved) specific enough (written down helps here), and clearly understood (you know exactly when you're expected to achieved what), your plan will help you meet your goals, thereby attaining the results upon which your work depends to be considered successfully accomplished.
With this as background, let's now tackle how we might make such a plan fit into God's plan. Why do this? Well, as we mentioned at the start, we Catholics understand that God has a plan for each of us, which is part of a kind of "master plan" for His entire Creation. Everything that happens, down to the smallest detail, happens according to His Plan. Yes, it's mysterious. So much so that many of us choose to ignore what really is and should appear to us as a glaring reality and just go about our business each day, both at work and in our personal lives, never giving God's plan a single thought. That's a mistake, one we need to rectify.
To rectify the situation, we'll start with a simple statement of fact: You work for the greater glory of God - ad maiorem Dei gloriam - each day. (Right? You do, don't you?) How do you specifically connect what you do each day to the "greater glory of God"? Or, to put it another way, how do you connect your plan at work to God's plan?
Next, we note what we're calling "God's Plan" might more accurately be called "Divine Providence." So, question: Do you have to know His plan - i.e., understand Divine Providence - and in some fashion match your thoughts, words, and deeds so that they somehow "fit in" to Divine Providence? Of course not. There's no way we could do this even if we wanted to do it. Remember, we're talking God here - as opposed to us little creatures of His. Maybe we can look at it this way: We simply have no way to discern what God is "thinking," if that's the right term to use here. (I'm no theologian.)
Okay, we've put a lot on the table today. We'll have more to say next time. But before we break for the day, let's make a distinction between intellect and will. Even though it's impossible for us to use our intellect to grasp what God might be "thinking," it's still possible for us to use our will and express the specific desire to connect all that we do to His Divine Will. And it's not hard to do. You simply express your intention to do His Will.
So at work today, you can express your intention like this:
"Dear Lord, I will (fill in: write this email; create this spreadsheet; pay attention to my professor's lecture; install this cable connection in this house; mix this batch of cement...etc.) for Your greater glory. And throughout this day, everything I do to fulfill this day's work plan I will do with the intention of doing Your Will. I don't know specifically how my work will advance your Divine Will. I'll have to leave that up to you. For may part, I offer my sincere effort to do my job the best way I know."
Or something like that. That's not hard to do, is it?
Next time we dig a little deeper to understand better how all this really works.
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