A precautionary tale of best laid plans
- col-dave-mast
- September 12, 2024
- 279
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are currently in the midst of creating a cautionary tale for all to embrace.
The moral of their story?
We never know what our futures hold, and our best laid plans can easily fall apart.
The duo arrived at their orbiting laboratory on June 6 aboard the Boeing Starliner after lifting off on June 5 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Their mission was supposed to last 10 days.
Instead, due to malfunctions, they will not return home until February 2025, leaving them floating in space, so to speak, for approximately 240 days.
I don’t know about all of you, but when I prepare for a 10-day vacation, I generally don’t pack enough stuff for nine months, but that’s just me.
Anyway, the two astronauts prepared for their time in space, going through all the detailed tests and tasks necessary to visit the space station.
However, for a job that was supposed to last 10 days, this trek has turned into something that has thrown their lives into total upheaval, despite the brave face they continue to put on for the world.
This whole fiasco goes to prove one thing: The best laid plans are the ones that often go awry.
These two individuals knew what they were getting into, but I doubt they had any inkling as to their fortunes and future, or lack thereof at least in earthly terms, that they were about to and are in the midst of enduring.
There were probably doctor and dentist appointments scheduled upon their return. There may have been family gatherings. There were future objectives and goals that were planned well in advance that would take place following their time floating in outer space high above us all.
Months later there they are, stuck in some weird Twilight Zone-like episode, right where they were June 5, right where they were certain they wouldn’t be at this moment in time when they undertook this mission.
It serves us all with a very important message: Things don’t always go as planned.
A literary mouse set the tone for this very notion.
“The best laid plans of mice and men oft’ go awry” is a famous line from a poem by Robert Burns, a poem written about a mouse whose house suddenly gets plowed over by a farmer, despite the mouse’s careful planning.
These types of cautionary tales abound, both in literature and real life, where people make daily plans, only to see them crumble away because of delays, accidents, deaths or myriad reasons that cause chaos to our best laid plans.
Incredible words of wisdom are present throughout history that speak directly to the idea of preparation being a positive.
Pastor H.K. Williams is quoted as saying, “Remember, if you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
There are many, many famous words of wisdom that tell us all to be prepared, to take time to plan out our lives, deeds and fate.
Yes, planning ahead is a monumentally important thing for us to do.
All I’m driving at is this: Don’t be surprised when all of your preparation goes right down the proverbial toilet.
It’s going to happen.
Sooner or later our plans are going to fall apart, and my best advice is simply be ready. Don’t get flustered when they do and, above all, be flexible and open to altering your course or path.
We need to be open to altering our course of action, even as these two unsuspecting astronauts had to do.
As uncomfortable or frustrating as it might be, don’t fret, go ballistic and lose your mind because that doesn’t solve the issue at hand. It only adds to the pain of it.
Instead, even in the discomfort and amidst the agony of chaos, keep your wits about you.
To their credit, Williams and Wilmore have done so. They have made the best of a dour situation, one over which they have no control.
For me, the solution is this:
Proverbs 16:9 states, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
There’s nothing wrong with planning, but things happen. In my mind God is ultimately in control, so trusting that he will help me work through things when my plans fall apart is of great comfort.
Maybe that’s you too.
Maybe that’s not you, but it’s me, and it works quite well for me to believe that.
Regardless of how you deal with situations when your best laid plans falter and you have to improvise, just know that it’s going to happen.
You might not get lost in space, but it could well be life-changing, or something quite insignificant, but once those plans crumble, remember you can’t do anything about that anymore.
All you can do is control how you handle it moving forward, and how calmly and capably you handle it determines your ability to adjust and move forward in overcoming the agony of watching your best laid plans disappear.