I used to let whoever asked the loudest, or the most recently, win a spot on my calendar. It felt responsive and generous. It was actually just reactive, and it meant the truly important things — unhurried time with my children, my own time with God — kept losing to whatever was urgent that day.
Now I spend twenty minutes most Sunday evenings mapping the coming week around what actually matters before the requests start coming in. Proverbs 16:9 holds both halves of this in tension well: we plan, and God establishes the steps. Planning is not a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty. It is a way of stewarding the days He has actually given me, instead of just surviving them.