The Plans of Men

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond"

~ Joel Osteen, January 13, 2013 service 

I jotted this quote down while I was listening to Joel Osteen on TV this past Sunday morning, and then Mom quoted it to me again when she got back from church. I guess it left a deep impression on both of us.

It’s not easy to be happy or thankful when things don’t go the way we planned, but I definitely think it’s worth trying. It’s hard not to be upset for that one instant when something bad happens, but after that, whether we stay unhappy really is our choice. We don’t usually think about being happy as being a choice, but when you think about it, that’s exactly what it is.

It reminds me of whenever I used to worry about an essay I turned in or whether I should have said or shouldn’t have said something. I’d tell my sister, and then my sister would say something along the lines of “that’s stupid”, and I’d feel better. Of course, this only works for us because we know each other so well. I wouldn’t go and say that to a casual acquaintance.

It’s all about perspective.

But it’s not just about choosing not to let something upset you. It’s a mindset that has to be cultivated long term. As he said, you have to decide ahead of time not to be upset no matter what happens. It’s a lot easier to take a deep breath and calm down when something happens if you were already prepared to deal with it than to try and fight for your cool after you’ve already lost it.

That explains why it can be so hard. We weren’t prepared.

Dad’s had so many long business trips in the past couple years, and it’s always depressing when we have to say goodbye to him at the airport, wondering when he’ll be back and if his return will be delayed this time—again. On one of these business trips, he had quick stops in both China and Taiwan before finally boarding the plane for Korea. We were hopeful that this time, he’d be home on time. But just like so many times before, the moment he got there, his schedule started being shuffled around. He’d call us in the morning to say he’d be leaving stop one later than planned, only to call again that evening to say he’d be early. On the bright side, since we’d sort of expected this to happen, we tried not to let it bother us too much. In retrospect, frustrating though all the schedule changes were at the time, they were all incredibly fortuitous. Because of the time shifts, Dad left China on the plane just half an hour before all flights leaving the city were canceled due to storm winds and flooding. Then his plane from Taiwan left moments before the area he was staying was hit by one of the island’s serious, summer typhoons. If it weren’t for all the rescheduling, he may have been caught in either of these natural disasters. Sometimes, what seems like a bad thing may not be so terrible in the long run. As the Chinese saying goes, man’s plans can’t measure up to the plans of heaven.