Many of you are new to my Monday letters. Welcome!
I have a confession for newcomers to Post Script: I once had a clearly organized structure for these letters. On the first Monday, I wrote a biblical reflection; on the second, something related to habit; on the third, a summary of the books I’d been reading; on the fourth, odds and ends.
There was a reason for this structure, and it wasn’t just my compulsion for organization. When I switched from writing a monthly letter to seending weekly Monday letters, I worried I might eventually feel overwhelmed with the schedule I’d set for myself. I thought a clearly articulated plan would help me generate ideas for these letters. Longtime Post Script readers will know that in recent months, I haven’t followed this structure as faithfully. Perhaps you’ve minded. Perhaps you haven’t even noticed.
Here’s the thing about plans and structures and systems: the plan is rarely the point.
I developed a thematic plan for these letters—but the point wasn’t the plan. The point was the weekly habit of writing these letters. I wanted to keep going, and the plan was always meant to serve that desire.
But guess what? I didn’t need the plan in recent months. I had LOTS of ideas for these letters, especially as I approached the release of In Good Time. Maybe in the future, maybe even next week I’ll return to my initial structure or develop a new one. Maybe I’ll find that the words have all of a sudden dried up and that I’ll need a new way to coax them out like a timid cat. In that case, I’ll develop a plan.
But hear me say it again: the plan is rarely the point.
It’s a good reminder, especially when we turn the page of a New Year and get aspirational about our lives.
Maybe you’re devising plans to read Scripture more comprehensively, to pray more regularly, to pursue community more faithfully, to work more diligently, to budget more strictly.
Hooray! Plans are usually necessary for sustaining any habit or practice we hope to integrate into our lives. In Atomic Habits, James Clear cites research about the people who were most successful in developing a consistent exercise habit. They were the planners, those people who named a specific day and time and place for their new fitness habit.
But here’s the way I see it. When you’ve given your plan a fair chance and discover that it has ceased to serve you, you have permission to change that plan! What counts most is serving the desire that motivated the plan initially!
Insert all kinds of examples here. What I’m trying to say is that when we can find creative, enjoyable, functionally feasible habits and practices that serve our deepest God-honoring desires, we are most likely to be consistent.
And consistency is a key word. It suggests steadfastness, endurance, perseverance. These are wonderfully rich and biblical words that remind us of the real point: to keep going.
So here’s to a new year: of plans that serves our deepest, Godward desires as well as the flexibility to change the plan when needed.
Yours,
Jen
P.S. If you live anywhere close to Grand Rapids, I’m doing an author event at the Baker Book House on Friday, January 13th, at 7p.m. It’s FREE, and I’d love to see you there!