A pastor friend of mine said something once that has stuck with me every since.  He said, “hope is not a strategy.”  There have been plenty of times in my life where I just hoped that the situation, the relationship, the whatever would get better and guess what – they usually don’t.  That is, without a plan.

Maybe you find yourself in a situation hoping that a relationship you have with someone will get better.  Among your many possibilities; you could do nothing and hope that things will get better or you could come up with a plan and begin to work the plan.  The problem with getting a plan and working the plan is that it requires work.  Work, now there is a word that we sometimes shy away from because it requires thought and intention. If I am frustrated over my financial situation, but never give thought and intention to improving my budget and financial outlook, then I am in no place to see my situation improve.  I can will it to improve and never see a change.  I can hope that it improves or I can put a plan in place to begin movement in the right direction.  As we all find out in life, as much as we sometimes would like to throw the life switch in autopilot and kind of cruise our way through it, without intentionality we will not get to the place that God is leading us – we will not get to the place we want to go.

We may see the need to change.  We may even talk about change.  But are we willing to do the work to change?