All in Good Time

“We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.” ~ Author unknown

James ran his eyes down the agenda for the meeting of the Our Lady of Guilt and Suffering Parish Council. As President, it was his responsibility to run the meeting. There were only two items on the Agenda. The first was to determine whether it was appropriate to give every parish employee a lily for Easter.

The second was the discussion and approval of a Strategic Plan for the upcoming year. Many changes were taking place within their local church, the community and the Church at large. This plan could have long range implications of extraordinary consequence upon the future of the parish.

After a brief prayer and perfunctory approval of the minutes from the last meeting they launched into the first agenda item. The discussion regarding the lilies was detailed, lively and hotly contested.

Everyone seemed to have a different opinion. Was a lily an appropriate gift for the male members of the staff? Should a more generic gift be offered? What about employees who were allergic to plants? What if a lily would bring back bad memories of a recently deceased relative? Perhaps a “cash in lieu” option should be offered? Maybe the church could get a better “deal” from a parishioner who was also a florist? Was a precedent being set which, if later discontinued, could negatively impact morale?

The discussion went on endlessly. James suddenly realized there would not be sufficient time left to discuss the Strategic Plan; a plan which could forever change the direction, future and outreach of the parish. He announced to the Council, because of the lack of sufficient time remaining, discussion of the Strategic Plan would have to be postponed until the next quarterly meeting.

The question was hastily called on the “lily issue.” The Parish Council voted to go ahead with the gift of a lily to each employee. There was one dissenting vote; a creationist who believed selling and buying plants was equivalent to slavery. “Plants are people too,” she chirped.

After a brief prayer the meeting was adjourned.

During my early years in the insurance industry I worked with a gentleman who proudly proclaimed he was a “big picture guy.” According to him, his job was to come up with sweeping strategic ideas. The planning and implementation was left to everyone else. I thought he was just lazy.

Secretly, we would all like to think we are “big picture guys” when in fact most of us prefer and enjoy minutia. Strategic thinking takes courage, patience and requires waiting, watching and adjusting. Minutia is much more fun and satisfying. It makes us feel busy and useful even when we don’t really accomplish much. Most of us don’t like to wait and watch. We want to do something and move on

Much to our chagrin the Big Guy (Gal?) upstairs operates on a very strategic level. He is the Big Picture Guy my coworker was talking about. The result is we often have to wait and watch for Him.

This is particularly painful when we are looking to Him to resolve our problems. “When God closes a door he opens another door,” we say to ourselves not realizing there may be a long, dark hallway in between. Jacob’s son Joseph waited 2 years in prison after he interpreted the baker’s and the cupbearer’s (butler’s) dreams before he was released (Genesis verses 40 & 41).

Even our prayers seem to reflect this predisposition for instant results. We pray for God to change our circumstances rather than to change us. In the end, it may be fun and satisfying to talk about lilies for workers, but the strategic aspect of our lives is so much more important. Wait for it.

Dear God: Please…Just give me a hint!

“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” ~ Joseph Campbell, American mythologist, writer and lecturer (1904-1987)



© 2011 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.

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