Goal vs. Plan

In college, one of my theater professors told me that when you're doing an acting scene, you should always have a goal, but not necessarily a plan. See, if you have a plan, it only leaves room for your actions and the actions that you want everyone around you to have. But that isn't how things happen. People don't always do what you want - in fact they rarely do, and if you're relying on them to do certain things that they don't do... well, then what happens to your plan? However, if you have a GOAL, and you go into a scene with that in mind, there are MANY ways to get where you're going. You might have challenges along the way, and people will definitely react in ways you weren't planning on them reacting (they have their own desires and objectives, after all), but if you keep your goal in mind, you can adjust, get creative, and have a lot more opportunities and paths to take to reach your goal.

That saying has become one of the ways I look at life now. Sure, I am a little obsessive about planning and being prepared (that's still important)... but I can't control what anyone else does, and I don't know what's going to come next each day. I don't know what opportunities will arise, or what doors will be closed. But if I have a goal, I can keep working towards it in some way, even if it wasn't a part of "the plan". I can accept the challenges and look at them as things I can learn from - even if I don't like them, even if they take me a direction I didn't want to go, even if the timing is different than I'd like. God knows what I need most - and has my best in mind - even when I don't want to recognize it! I just have to trust Him with that and keep moving forward, constantly learning and growing. There are times when it will feel like everything's going crazy, and my plans will be thwarted... but I just have to keep adjusting and working towards my goals, trusting that it will all work out as it should in the end.

Now that's not too hard to do, is it? =)