When planning comes to mind, two quotes always present themselves in my thoughts. The first, I believe, has been credited to Woody Allen: “How do you make God laugh? Make plans.” While I don’t normally look to Woody Allen for spiritual guidance, there seems to be a lot of truth in his joke.

The second quote is credited to Rabbi Bunim of P’shiskha: “Keep two pieces of paper in your pockets at all times. One that says ‘I am a speck of dust.’ And the other, ‘The world was created for me.’” Rabbi Bunim reminds me to look for a balance between two ways of walking. The former note reminds of the necessity of walking with less of a need to control everything. It encourages me to forge a life of my own while participating in this world that was created for me.

Ambition, drive, and perseverance are characteristics we associate with ultimate career success. While these qualities are necessary to move along the path, they can become quite pernicious if practiced alone. Without much heed paid to the needs of others or following a higher plan that has been crafted for us our planning becomes “me-driven.”

Ambition, drive, and perseverance must be checked with discernment, humility, and wisdom. In graduate school, the students in our program were taught the wisdom of being a reflective practitioner. The premise was that we need to constantly be examining ourselves to make sure we are following the right path—both in our daily activities and in the larger scheme. When we set to plan our life’s course, whether intentionally or subconsciously, the question that needs to be asked is, “Am I going down a career path that seems to come to me naturally or has everything been forced, contrived?” It is an important question because if things seem the latter, we may be walking down a path that was not meant for us.

Of course, we can still consider ourselves successful and happy, but are we really answering our true call in the world that has been created for us? There is a maxim in the Catholic Church that says the best bishop is someone who does not want to be a bishop. In other words, a person who is driven to become a bishop has the potential to get so caught up in his own “plans” that he forgets to consider God’s plans for him. Hence, God (or insert the higher power of your choice) begins to laugh, because he or she is in ultimate control. It is argued that you can certainly go against God’s plan, thanks to good ol’ free will, but doing so will result in some hardship.

Frederick Buechner reminds us, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” This is a pretty lofty ideal to mull over. Any career from banker to teacher to custodian to CEO allows us an opportunity to plan and live with awareness for the needs of others, and a bias toward action to serving those needs.

By living as if we were a speck of dust, we find the wisdom to allow our plans to naturally take us to a place where we will be reaching that deep gladness and feeding the world’s deep hunger. By living as if the world were created for us, we avail ourselves the opportunity to plan with an awareness of the needs of others and the importance of making decisions with awareness and humility.

So, are we taking the time to truly discern, with soul, where our lives are taking us? Or, is God laughing?

Rick Robers is a native Southwest Virginian who teaches middle school in Pulaski County. He’s currently neck-deep in making plans.