Glorious Unfolding

If you read my post earlier this week about Stephen Colbert, you realize that he is my favorite Catholic of the moment. (Not that I go around raking my favorite Catholics each day; that would be weird.)

After I posted the last blog entry, I saw this article about him. I love the last line in the article that the transference of faith passed down over the centuries is "sure unfolding of the divine plan.”

Our God who holds the entire universe in existence cares for my individual existence. And yours.

But here's the rub. You don't know what the divine plan for your life is until you're smack in the middle of it. Perhaps, even on the way out. (You know, maybe you never really know until the end.)

I'm a huge planner. I knew at the age of 15 that I wanted to go into marketing. So that’s what I studied in college (Go Flyers!) and what I did for 14 years of my career.

However, as you may know, life doesn’t always go according to your plan. Say, for instance, you could be let go from a job you’ve had for seven years. In a moment like that, you could get upset and scramble to find another job in marketing in order to hold on with both hands to the life you had planned for yourself (which I did). Or you can pause, pray, and realize that God could be designing a radical shift in your life to get you on the path He has in store for you (which I also did, with a better result!).

So, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my career in film. As I look back on my life, this “radical shift” is not actually so radical. In high school when I chose marketing, I wanted to make trailers for movies. In grade school, I tried to corral my fellow students to film Agatha Christie's "10 Little Indians" at my friend’s house. God clearly put that creative spark in me decades ago.

Of course, taking the first step doesn't mean everything else falls right into place. (Are you as shocked as I am that after an entire month of being out here, I'm not a world famous screenwriter yet?) I'm working on projects that I didn't envision, but that's okay because I'm at peace with letting God’s plan unfold. It is a glorious unfolding (which makes me think of this great song that I listened to so many times in the past year).

How about you? Does your life plan match the divine plan? God may look at your plan and say, "My child, you dream too small." God wants the best for you. God looks at you and says, "Do you know how amazingly talented you are? Do you have any idea of the impact you are meant to have on this world?" (And yes, these quotes are verbatim.)