August 28, 2026

Hold Your Plans Loosely

Man proposes, but God disposes.

Thomas à Kempis wrote this around 1418 while living as an Augustinian canon at Mount St. Agnes near Zwolle, copying manuscripts and guiding novices within the quiet Devotio Moderna movement. He was not a famous scholar or public figure; he believed steady daily discipline mattered more than personal ambition or renown. This line comes from a chapter urging monks to set clear intentions each day while accepting that the final shape of events belongs to something larger than their own will. It speaks to freedom now because real autonomy is not the power to guarantee outcomes, but the freedom to act well no matter how things turn out.