James in today’s First Reading reminds us that career planning can only get us so far, because we really never know what the future holds. We can plan the perfect college degree, the perfect career, only to suddenly fall head over heels in love and start a family, be struck down by cancer or an accident requiring extended treatment, discover a vocation to the priesthood or consecrated life, or lose your job. Many people throughout the world today don’t even have a level of what we’d call normal stability, living in a broken family, poverty, or persecution and can’t even guess what the future holds for them.
Every good thing in our life is a gift from the Lord, and, as Job teaches us, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away (see Job 1:21-22). That’s not a truth to live in fear if we practice faith, hope, and love. God wills the good and helps us achieve it, but we can also help him achieve good as well by asking him what would please him. That’s why whenever we make plans we must be open to God’s will, knowing that he is a loving Father who has his children’s best interest in mind. Being in a Fortune 500 company or in a hospital bed suffering through chemotherapy are both opportunities to help others through our talents and our sacrifices.
Spend some time in prayer today considering the expression, “God laughs at man’s plans”; is there anything you’re planning for life that God may think is a joke? Ask him.
Readings: James 4:13–17; Psalm 49:2–3, 6–11; Mark 9:38–40. See also 26th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.