Phobic Ranting about Planning

    For the second week in a row, at the very beginning of the new year, I am writing a blog post without reference to a bigger plan. It scares me. For me, having no plan is like every monster I ever imagined underneath my bed, waking me up in the middle of the night, looking me square in the eye saying clearly, but accusingly “what do you think you’re doing?” No plan is like looking into a deep hole and not knowing whether there is water at the bottom, dirt, or just more dark. Not having a plan, is for me worse than any nightmare where I can’t remember my locker number and am late for class. I don’t like not having a plan. It scares me. It slows me down. And things won’t be right until I get a plan in place. 

    Now there is a reason why I’m working without a net, at least for this week. I had to begin both Monday and Tuesday out of the office. That always throws me. Now it is Tuesday afternoon, Friday morning as I revise, edit, proof, and finalize this essay. I still need to get some work done towards a first draft. The whole while I’m thinking “You wouldn’t be behind and would not need to worry if you’d gotten your plan finished.” When I open my To-do list in Things it’s there in front of me or waiting to pounce: Go over the Blog plan. And by “go over” what I mean (or meant when writing the task) FOCUS! Compare what you wrote last year with what you wish to write this year! Buckle down! 52 weeks 52 posts. Now 50 of course. Thank you for letting me share my a-planophobia with you. I feel better already. 

    As bad as it feels staring into a planless abyss I am happy to report that there is no similar anxiety when it comes to preaching. That plan was in place months ago, and blog planning was scheduled to be a part of my overall preaching plan but I did not complete the work I assigned to myself. Fortunately, there is still time for the work to get done before January gets too far away. And now…a limerick:

Some think limericks lame,

For others, they’re simply too tame

They skip and they rhyme

And every time

They’re alike but never the same.