Life Goals

My husband and I like to take road trips.  Short road trips, long road trips, even road trips with no particular destination in mind.  I’ve realized that it’s not really the arrival that I enjoy so much – it’s being safe inside a comfortable car with my favorite person and very few distractions.  We can talk and talk.  In fact, we’ve had our very best conversations on these drives.

On one such drive a few summers back going from Arkansas to Alaska, we were having one of these memorable conversations when I realized I hadn’t been noticing road signs for awhile.  We were in a place in northern Canada where you rely on old-fashioned maps rather than your GPS, and we’d gotten distracted.

We ended up at a gorgeous lake, which was great.  But there wasn’t a roadside lake within 100 miles of where we were supposed to be.  Which was not great.  Turns out, we’d missed our turn and driven well over an hour in the wrong direction.  Oops.

It’s nice to have a system in place to avoid such mistakes, isn’t it?  Because I’ve had to complete research projects in my career, I place a great deal of emphasis on the findings of different experimental and research studies.  So let’s discuss today’s topic in relation to research completed on the topic of life goals.  This particular study was completed on the difference between simply having goals and having written goals and accountability.  The results were clear.  If you have three things (accountability in a person you admire, commitment to your goal, and a written plan), you are more likely to achieve your dreams.

“If you have a goal, write it down.  If you do not write it down, you do not have a goal, you have a wish.”

-Steve Maraboli

When Habakkuk, the prophet, cried out to God about the evil of the Israelites towards the end of Israel’s southern kingdom, God heard him.  God responded.

¹  I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 

² And the LORD answered me:  “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.

³ For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie.  If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

God asks that Habakkuk write out his vision.  God knows His children.  He knows we need this extra reminder of where we’re going and why.  We’re human.  We get distracted.   Sometimes we open our eyes and we’re in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

Don’t let your life pass you by because of the distractions and cares of this world.  You don’t want to wake up in the last stage of your life realizing you are miles away from where you set out to go for God.

I urge you to consider this when you plan the remainder of your life for the Kingdom of Heaven.  Determine what path you can begin today.   Few of us know exactly where we will end up, but we can know which direction to go.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:6).  If we follow His leading, we can make plans based on our strengths and our convictions, and begin on a path toward them.  The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

Today’s Challenge:  Yesterday, you prayed over the many intentions you’ve had in life and hopefully, you wrote some things down in regards to those goals.  Today, choose two or three very specific ideas or ministries that are dearest to your heart.  Begin working on a plan to achieve those goals.  Write them down; make them real.  Continue in prayer. 

But don’t stop there!  Share your goals with like-minded friends and family so that they too can pray for them to become a reality.