Making Other Plans

by Ami Hendrickson

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,” John Lennon wrote in his song Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), released in 1980. But Lennon wasn’t the first to feel this way. He wasn’t even the originator of the phrase.

In 1957, Reader’s Digest published the quote, crediting Allen Saunders, who worked on such syndicated comic strips as “Mary Worth,” “Steve Roper,” and “Kerry Drake.”

In 1958, the Chicago Tribune featured the phrase in a column and credited Quin Ryan.

A few years later, the Los Angeles Sentinel claimed Walter Ward had said it first.

In the following years, it was widely quoted and attributed to a variety of people including Henry Cooke, Robert Balzer, and L.S. McCandless. Even Dear Abby used it in her advice column as if it were her own.

By the late 1970s, the book 1,000 Logical Laws presented it as “Knight’s Law,” though no one seems to know who Knight is.

Regardless of who said it first, the axiom holds true: our human plans so easily go astray. Thank God that He has a plan for each one of His children.

He knows “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10). You can boldly live your life, following His guidance, knowing that His vision for your future ultimately leads to your best life, and your greatest joy.

Pray

Father God,
Help me to place my trust in You.
Please continue to plan my life according to Your will.
In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.