“As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” (James 4:16, ESV)
Boasting in your arrogance. That English is soft. The Greek word is alazoneia. In the ancient world it named a specific person. The traveling salesman. The quack. The man who rolls into town promising cures he cannot deliver, and sounds sure the whole time.
That is the word James picks for the confident planner. Not because planning is wrong. Because the confidence is a performance. He is selling a future he does not own.
Jesus told a story about a man like this. A rich farmer with a bumper crop. I will build bigger barns. I will store it all up. Soul, you have many years. Relax. Eat. Drink. Be merry. The most scripted plan in the Bible. And God says one sentence. Fool. This night your soul is required of you. He had the barns. He had the plan. He did not have the one thing he was sure of. Tomorrow.
Here is the good news hiding in it. If you never actually had control, you cannot lose it. Putting down the performance is not losing something. It is just stopping the pretending.
Today: Catch yourself performing control today. When you do, say it plain. A full calendar is not a held tomorrow.