The Importance of a Written Plan

Let me share some words from a popular Catholic song:

Here I am Lord.

Is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

Growing up I was taught the Baltimore Catechism. Question number six was: Why did God make you? The answer to that was: God made me to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next.

I recently read most people spend more time planning a one week vacation than identifying what outcomes they want to see in the major areas of their lives. We are told a written plan will help clarify life’s pursuits. Most people walk aimlessly through life with no clear destination like a ship with no rudder. Some people do have writtengoals and those who do, frequently have goals for:

• Money
• Business
• Fitness
• Diet
• Vacations
• Any others

However, very few have a written goal to Know Him, Love Him and Serve Him, which are the very reasons we were made.

In Cursillo, during weekly grouping we are challenged to not only discuss our Piety, Study and Action but we are also asked to address two questions. Was my plan for evangelization carried out last week and what is your plan for next week? I have observed over my 24 years in Cursillo that those two questions are frequently skipped.

The first talk written for Cursillo is “The Study and Evangelization of Environments.” We are called to study the various environments that we are surrounded with inour everyday lives and then we are called to transform those environments for Christ. To do that successfully, we must have a written plan.

In the Cursillo Leaders guide, Chapter 3 page 25, we read:

“If human activity must be carefully planned, how much more care should be devoted to

planning the work of Christ in the Church?”

We are called to:

• Communicate with God daily (Piety)
• Get to know God more fully (Study)
• Share Christ with others (Apostolic Action)

Since Christ himself has called us to be apostles, we must choose to respond fully to that call. We must develop an action plan that places our Apostolic Action above the other secular things that can distract us each day. We need to develop a written plan to respond to Christ’s calling.

Questions:

• Do you currently have a written plan to respond to God’s calling in your life?
• If yes, have you shared it with your Christian brothers and sisters to help make you accountable to your plan?
• If you have no plan in place, will you commit today to writing one within the next two weeks, after first seeking God’s direction and input in prayer?

Now that hopefully we have all committed to writing down our plan to respond to God’s calling in our lives we can all sing more loudly.

Here I Am Lord!