That saying of Furman's? "Man plans, and God laughs."
The actual translation of the Yiddish would be that man proposes, and God disposes. In other words, we can make all the plans that we want here on Earth in regards to our lives, but in the end it will be God's plan that will come to pass, whether or not that coincides with our own plans, hopes, and dreams.
The saying came to me this morning as I contemplated a recent dual tragedy which has struck a family that I know personally. They suffered a sudden, recent, untimely death, and now immediately on top of that tragedy have suffered yet another major blow. Without going into details, still fresh and painful for many, there are a number of people suffering because of these twin tragedies right now, and a few whose lives have been completely devastated.
How do we possibly make sense of such apparently senseless tragedy? How can any of that be a part of God's plan for those individuals, for that family? And what does it have to do with that old Yiddish saying that I mention in the beginning of this piece?
No matter what age, we all make plans. Young people plan on where they're going to meet after school, what they're going to do this weekend. Students plan on what courses they are going to sign up for in the next semester or school year. Folks make plans for with whom they want to begin or continue a relationship, how many children to have, their career choice, where they are going on vacation, what's for dinner tonight, and much more.
But how many plans have you made in your life, small or large, only to have something intervene to delay, change, or completely thwart those sometimes well-conceived plans?
