In the past, I wasn’t all that interested in poetry. Certain kinds of poetry have very strict rules (syllables, meter, rhyming) and other kinds seem to have no rules at all. I’ve read poems that were very confusing and had no discernable message.
But recently, I’ve read some truly moving and profound poems by Phylicia Masonheimer ( in her email newsletter and Instagram) and Laura Wifler (instagram), and I’ve decided that the no-rules type of poetry can be a pretty neat way to express emotion. Trying to rhyme in a specific pattern becomes limiting and stressful, but rhyming a few lines if it works out and not worrying about it when it doesn’t, is freeing.
So I’d like to share a short poem I wrote awhile ago. I will preface it by saying, I am very grateful for all of God’s blessings and provision in my life. But I think everyone can relate to the feeling of life not going exactly the way you envisioned, for a wide variety of reasons. It’s actually a grieving process to realize that certain dreams or expectations you had for your life have not come to pass. Even though this is sort of a depressing subject, I hope the end is an encouragement to keep trusting in a sovereign God. (Scripture references in the second last stanza are from Proverbs 16:9 and Isaiah 55:8-9.)
The Plan
I used to have a plan
For how my life would go.
But one by one
The dominoes fell
Down a different path.
Unexpected changes
Some big, some small
Till my life hardly looks like
The original plan at all.
I can still see
What never came to be.
On the outside looking in
Is where I stand
Watching others live
The life that I planned.
I am reminded
Of what I never had, but somehow lost.
The heart of man plans his way
But the Lord establishes his steps.
And His ways are higher
Than mine.
So I wait
And I pray
To the God
Who plans my way.
Krista Harmuth 