The Final Draft
When my husband and I decided to buy a house, we looked at several floor plans from different builders, but never found anything that really met all our needs. We then chose to have custom plans drawn up by an architect, ensuring we got exactly what we wanted. What we didn’t know is that starting from scratch like that takes a long time. We started by giving the architect a few of the plans we liked, hoping he could meld them together somehow to come up with our “dream home.” He would sketch out some ideas, we’d tell him whether or not we liked it, he would make some changes, and we would decide again. This went on for a year. Before it was all said and done, I bet he’d drawn our house 25 times, tweaking this room here or that angle there.
In a recent devotional, the author described the plans we set for ourselves as a “myriad.” Webster’s describes myriad as “countless or extremely great number.” From the time we are young, we dream about what we want to be when we grow up, who we will marry, etc. As parents, we “plan” for our kids’ educations, we make decisions for their lives that we hope will better them, ensuring their future is bright. We are constantly making plans for ourselves and our families.
The devotional went on to say that our myriad of plans doesn’t, and can’t ever, match up to God’s master plan. Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” If we truly want an abundant life for ourselves and our children, it would be beneficial if we learned to lay our plans at His feet and accept that His plan for our lives is much better, much fuller, and more rewarding than anything we ever dreamed on our own.
We have all the sketches and plans that were drawn up for us all those years ago, along with the master plan that was given to the builder. The builder didn’t need to see all the previous sketches, because in the end, they didn’t matter. All that mattered was the final draft. We are like young architect apprentices, bringing all our ideas to the boss, but in the end, God is the Master Craftsman, His designs are flawless, and all that will matter is His final draft.