Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

I had to sigh when I heard that a tropical storm in the Atlantic was taking shape. I was cleaning out closets listening to the TV thinking “Hey wait a minute..I’m trying to prepare for a move here..I don’t have time to deal with this!”

The verse above reminds me to make my plans but to leave room for “life” to happen… kinda like when the barista leaves room at the top of my foam coffee cup for whatever it is I may want to add. If I don’t allow for this wiggle room, unforeseen events can lead to disappointment and chaos.

Being flexible isn’t easy for people like me but truthfully, total control is an illusion. I can set a course, but God is ultimately in charge. I need to plan my days like Starbucks pours my coffee – with plenty of ‘open space’ to accommodate the Lord’s will for my life.