The twenties

------- Hit for Average – Loving for a Lifetime ------

Proverbs 16:9

Many coaching families begin with a wedding during their twenties. This is a decade full of major decisions. What to do for a living, where to live, whether to marry, whom to marry, whether to have children, and more are among the countless major life decisions to be made.

King Solomon lends us some wise counsel in the book of Proverbs chapter 16, verse 9. There it says, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” That seems pretty simple, but to live it out is a little more complex. Let’s consider the implications for a coaching family.

It’s a good thing to have a plan, and this proverb leaves us room to make plans. It’s also a good thing to allow some wiggle room in our plan for the Lord to make course corrections. Most of us, when we’re in our twenties, make plans for family and career, but we’d have to confess that our vision is pretty blurry. The Lord has no such lack of clarity. He knows and is well prepared to direct our steps toward the fulfillment of His purposes and our joy.

Ask any coaching couple in their sixties how closely their path of family and career matches the plans they made as newlyweds. They will probably chuckle at the disparity, and will surely marvel at the Lord’s wisdom.

The coaching family in their twenties might imagine that the map of their coaching life will be a straight line from point A to point B, always moving up and to the right. It is to our benefit that the Lord doesn’t always allow us such a path. He knows that much of what we will need is not on a straight-line path. We gather much of the character, skills, knowledge, and wisdom we need for our arrival at point B, at points way off the straight-line path due to failure, betrayal, bad decisions, and even rebellion. The Lord determines our steps and will not fail to fully equip us.

During your twenties, trust the Lord to guide you through the major decisions, even if you can’t see clearly and wonder where the path has gone. He is leading and will deliver you right on time.

Questions for Contemplation and Discussion:

1. What sorts of decisions were you making in your twenties? How many of those decisions worked out as you thought they would?

2. What are the major decisions you would like to have another shot at making?

3. How clearly can you see the Lord’s hand in directing your steps as you look back on your twenties? Which course corrections did you resist at first?