Prophetic Planning

A friend once told me that prophetic people plan differently. It came on a night that I was struggling to put together the pieces of a Sunday message. By struggling I mean I was sitting on the floor in a pile of my own notes with a 5ft white board covered in bullet points and arrows, in a sea of underlines and asterisks. I had all the pieces of what I wanted to say but no direction. I needed something to land and I was putting pressure on myself to get things ordered.  What I didn’t realize was that, instead of trying to logically sequence my thoughts, I needed permission to go down rabbit holes and follow trails of bread crumbs. I needed to allow my natural meanderings of thought and instinct to take me to the places that would eventually unlock clarity. I needed freedom within limits.

As I look to the future I get excited about planning my life and ordering my household. A few weeks ago Jason and I had a fence installed and a funny thing happened. I fell in love with it. Not just a normal excitement over the new property addition, but like, “I’m excited to get out of bed and look at our new fence”, kind of enthusiasm. It was weird, even to me. So I started asking myself “why”. Why do I look at it and feel relieved? Why do I stand on the same plot of grass I’ve stood for 5 years but feel a new sense of confidence and security? It’s a 4ft fence for goodness sake…And then I realized. I need boundaries. I love the clarity this fence provides. This is where things begin and where they end. When boundaries are firmly established I feel free. Even in terms of our backyard. Suddenly it feels bigger, more expansive. I didn’t expect that.

As I approach the new season I keep coming back to our new fence. Every year I have a ritual of “feeling” my way through the next season. Like a blind man walking our property line, I venture into the yard of my imagination, arms stretched out, seeking the solid things, the stable things, the fence line so to speak. I sit with the Lord and allow faces and names to be highlighted. Like wooden posts that halt my internal exploration I know that this is firm. One by one they become clear. These dear ones are not easily moved from my life, even in the unknown of a new year, I feel the Spirit breath life onto specific people who I am to give myself to. I make note of the names I am to anchor my life around, the ones who I am to invest into and receive from. A boundary is established. This is firm.

I continue to sit in prayer. Led by my curiosity of what the Lord wants to accomplish, I step further out into the unknown and look for signs of life. I stumble through my thoughts, dates, and calendar months come to mind, like tripping over stones in a mossy wood. Until something scampers through my spirit. A thought. An imagination with a beating heart. I see you. There, hidden in the cave of my soul I find treasures stored up. Wisdom. He wanted me to find these shiny objects, prophetic insights that have been waiting until now. Treasures of calendar dates that I must prepare for, scriptures that will be pure, refreshing water down the road, words that will anchor my soul on difficult days. Another boundary is established.

My pursuit for understanding continues until I am sure that I’ve sought out everything the good Lord will allow me to find today. By now I have clarity for the new year that I didn’t have earlier. I have confidence of which countries I am to carry closest to my heart, which travels I am to prioritize. Perhaps most helpful of all He’s revealed stumbling blocks that would trip me up, weeks in the year that would feel  desperate without a breath of silence and solitude. Times I need to prioritize play. Now I can plan and prepare because he’s allowed me to see. He’s opened my eyes and set my boundaries in place. I am free to run within the limits of January, February, March, the limits of time and space, while being rooted in heavenly mysteries of what He wants to accomplish.

Will there be surprises. Of course! We only see in part. But do I feel safe now? Do I know where I end and where I begin? Am I sure of what is mine to steward and what is my neighbors? Yes. On those things I am more clear. So I begin with anticipation. I run my hand along the new fence that has been built, the “here and no-further” that the Lord has established, and I rejoice. The boundaries have fallen for me in pleasant places. I am glad.

[This is a ritual I’ve practiced every year for the past 15+ years. Sometimes I sit with envelopes with specific names on them, or months, or places. I fill the pockets with words for the year. I allow the Spirit to lead me into the mystery of hidden things. I enjoy the freedom and embrace the boundaries as they come.]