“Planovers.”

Someone across the table named what we were talking about: when you prepare enough food with a plan for the overage to supply later meals.

Planovers.

Sometimes we look in the frig to see what we can use for leftovers, but planovers are something different. They are more intentional.

I wonder how we can be just as intentional about our spiritual nourishment. What if we stopped worshiping, studying, or praying enough for the now, feasting for the moment but not investing in the future? Sure, we might pray for the future, but are we truly relinquishing the future, ready and willing to do exactly what is necessary in the here and now? Or are our prayers more about hopes and dreams that we continue to measure as we progress? We might worship in the present during weekend services yet wonder why we’re already spiritually exhausted on Monday afternoon. We might set aside blocks of time for study but we have difficulty remembering anything, or if we do remember, we compartmentalize it instead of applying it in our daily lives.

We feel like we just don’t have enough left over at times, but what if we planned an overage instead of just hoping for one? I know there are times we can (and should) only gather, hold, and use so much, like the Israelites and manna. But many other times, God gives us not what we need right now but something we can’t understand how we will need in the future. When we trust Him, rely on Him, and respond to Him well, even when we don’t understand, we have planovers, not because of our own planning but because of His.

And I am thankful.