As I wind up my sermon preparation for this Sunday, my manuscript took an interesting turn to a biblical example of goal-setting by no forced will of my own. And that’s all the teaser you get–show up to church or listen to our YouTube later! I keep coming back to this principle not only in my life, my wellness journey, but also in counsel with others and in business matters as well. I admit, for years I balked at the concept of setting goals, but I’m definitely a convert. There’s lots of different types of goals, and even subsets within that, so it takes some time to find your groove–but sheesh, life-changing isn’t even adequate to say how my goals have impacted me.
One of my many go-to songs right now is Family Force 5’s “This is My Year.” It sums up in simple terms so much of “me” right now, not to mention is pretty energizing when it hits on a run interval. I’ve learned though, I can’t limit my goals to time periods like a year. How often do we set new year’s resolutions and proclaim, “this is going to be my year.” Well, okay, I can buy into the enthusiasm of change–but what happens when the clock strikes on December 31? Do you go back to old habits? Do you change back into a pumpkin?
My goals exist on a lot of planes–short as a few days to the astronomical God-sized goals that are harder to wrap my mind around. They’re all SMART goals (it’s the type-A in me…need for structure). They exist in written form. Different points of accountability in my life know about different goals, as appropriate and applicable. I’m now over three weeks into the seventeen week program leading up into my half marathon, I seem to have found myself back in a period of awe. I’ve looked over some of the goals I set when I started this whole great quest and I’m just blown away. Did I think this was going to be long-lived…clearly not, I started out truly with the idea that this was going to end up like “every other diet” and I’d get tired of it. I only anticipated losing 25lbs…blew that one out of the water (still sitting at 115lbs, but inches man…I’m down another pants size, if they ever arrive!). The God-sized goals–the ones that yes, I could place into SMART form, but still even then seem completely impossible to ever see in my lifetime? There’s a couple glimmers at the end of the tunnel. I’m floored.
It all started with a pity party whining prayer…and now I sit here most days like I’m living in a dream because my human mind is having a really slow processing time on just how amazingly God has blessed me through this overarching lesson in obedience. Praise almost seems inadequate to me most days. There’s a second component at play here that goes hand-in-hand with obedience, and that’s trust. That’s one of the big tackle points right now on some of the goals in progress. But at this juncture of awe and gratitude, also comes reassurance that God’s led the way so far, He’s not going anywhere right now either.
Is life perfect? No…of course not. I still have weight to lose, I still have habits to change, I still have relationships I can improve upon, I have volumes upon volumes of which to learn in deepening my relationship with God, I still face the same pressures as everyone else does in life and business, I still fight the cynical and snarky parts of me that want to rear their heads…I’m still human, and I still have reason and cause to fall apart at any given moment–but I know now, I don’t have to, it will pass. I’ll always be a work in progress. I may have met a lot of goals, and have some pretty cool ones hat I’ll be meeting this year, but there’s some pretty amazing ones still in progress in time beyond too…goals that when I meet them I can’t even fathom the projected end result because they’re so amazing.
I’ll continue to set goals…they’ll probably change in type and approach over time, and that’s okay. It’s all about growing and changing, as we all should be doing until the day we die. So, as much as I love the song…this isn’t just my year, it’s life. I don’t see myself going back any time soon. I’ve come too far–I won’t be turning into a pumpkin. God’s got plans and I’m along for the ride.
Heart and Sole Fitness & Wellness 