FOMO? Trust God’s Plans For Your Life

FOMO.
Do you have Fear Of Missing Out on the best blessings in life?
Trust God’s plans: to “prosper you and not harm you.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I flew “home” to be with my mother at Easter. She lives in a senior care home, and I spent every daylight hour with her, eating meals on a schedule, taking naps when she did: basically breathing the same air as my mother for most of 7 days!

And, just as it did when I was growing up, this became a little too much togetherness.  (For both of us, not just me.)  So I met up for coffee with childhood friends who still live in the area for quick catch up sessions.

There’s one friend I try to catch up with every time I visit mom.

And every single time lately it’s been the same story.

She’s not home.

I know Easter weekend is family time, so the chances were high she wouldn’t be home, because most of her children live away from her.

But it’s the same any month of the year.

If I go in July, she might be off to see a new grandchild.

I go in September, then she’s with her sister on a birthday trip.

In January she’s likely to have gone south to see her parents.

So by now I have FOMO about meeting up with her.

Our day planners are at war with each other.  It seems special planning is needed if we don’t want to miss seeing each other.

Zacchaeus had FOMO when Jesus came to town.

Zacchaeus had FOMO. Could he trust God’s plans?

He couldn’t.

He feared he would miss out on seeing Jesus when He came to town, so he made plans.  Too short to see Jesus from the side of the road, he ran ahead of the crowd, picked a large tree to climb, perched on a limb, and waited.  He could see the mass moving toward him, and when they arrived at his tree, he saw Jesus!

But that wasn’t the end of the story.

Jesus, with His all-wise Spirit, knew there was a man in the tree who needed Him.  Jesus had a plan, too.  So when their paths crossed, He put the plan in motion.  It may seem like coincidence that Jesus looked up into the tree at that moment on that day, but it wasn’t.

If this story happened today, Jesus might write in His day planner.  “Zacchaeus, tree branch in the sycamore beside the bank, 2 PM.” His plans for our good are concrete. It’s merely up to us to plan on meeting Him, because He’ll be there.

Jesus fear of missing us
is as great as our fear of missing Him.

That title is a manner of speaking. Jesus doesn’t “fear” because He knows all things. However, we can safely say He doesn’t want us to fear missing Him or missing out on the plans He has for us.

So don’t feel FOMO – trust God’s plans for your life, like Zacchaeus did.

We don’t have to fear that we’ll miss Him or His blessings.

He wants to see us so much that He will search the trees for each of us.  All we have to do is show up.  Climb the tree, and wait.  He will be there for us.

If we plan to see Jesus, our plans will work out.

Have no FOMO – trust God’s plans.