Timing really is everything

There's a reason why a cliche becomes a cliche. It's because it's true. Don't judge a book by it's cover, love is blind, the pot calling the kettle black. Right. People say them because there's no better way to explain something that everyone understands. Every language, culture and religion has their own cliches. It's because they work; they resonate. But sometimes they aren't enough.

Lately I've become fixated on the concept of timing. Actually, let me backup. I've always been obsessed with time. I plan my days, my semesters, my years almost to the exact hour. But timing is different than time. Timing is everything, but time is fleeting. I can't schedule timing, but I can schedule my time. I'm writing in circles here.

So what do I do with something that is so indispensable, yet almost entirely out of my control?

"Someone has said that life is what happens to us while we are making other plans. Because of things over which we have no control, we cannot plan and bring to pass everything we desire in our lives," Dallin H. Oaks said.

Ok. So I should stop trying to plan everything. That's cool. Or should I just make plans and then adjust my life when they don't work out (which they rarely do)? I can do that. But eventually I'm going to need some constancy. Sometimes I feel like life is all curve balls, but if I expect a curve ball every pitch, then when that fast one down the middle comes, I'm destined to strike out.

"Do not rely on planning every event of your life - even every important event. Stand ready to accept the Lord's planning and the agency of others in matters that inevitably affect you," Elder Oaks said. "Plan, of course, but fix your planning on personal commitments that will carry you through no matter what happens. Anchor your life to eternal principles."

That I get. Really, I get it. But sometimes it's so hard for me to remember. If I'm doing the right things and if I trust the Lord's will and His timing, then life's not going to be what I planned, but better. And in the long run, that's a relief.

But seriously, what am I supposed to do right now? Or in the next month? Or in the next year? I hate not knowing. But luckily faith prepares us for whatever life brings.