#i(still)gotgoals

Twice a year we gather with our fellow pastors within our denomination from our region for a time of spiritual renewal (and business meetings, but not during this fall session).  It was a nice time to get away from the grind and see people that we don’t get to see that often, pick up where we left off with friends that are truly our family, and meet some new folks that have recently been appointed in our region that we haven’t had the chance to meet before.  We were duly challenged, uplifted, given a chance to vent appropriately, learn, pray for one another, and hear about what is happening among our churches.  Good times.

I think that for me, I left with the encouragement that I needed both professionally and personally.  I take that back, I think I left with a little bit more fire under my goals.

I have been praying for a long time on a thought turned goal that I mentioned here a long time ago about becoming somewhat of a mentor or coach among fellow colleagues in the areas of holistic wellness.  I talked about getting some formal nutrition training, some personal training certifications, some additional counseling experience under my belt and then working one-on-one with people helping them to find what healthy looks like for them and their lifestyle. The current programs we have are wonderful and have been a blessing in our home, but not quite what I have in mind.  I have a few ideas on how this shores up as a formal program…just not positive where to get the ball rolling in how it fits into our corporate structure. It’ll get figured out.  God’s working on it–this I’m confident of.

I know this because I feel that this goal was very much confirmed and the passion reignited in me this week.  I’ll be the first to say, that no, I’m not perfect–I’ve still got weight left to lose, habits to still improve, and I’ll always be a work in progress–I’m also not launching the above goal into completion tomorrow, either.  But I looked around at my fellow pastors and my heart broke.  (In general…) We don’t take care of ourselves.  We don’t eat well, we don’t exercise, we don’t take care of our emotional health in productive ways, we aren’t nurturing our spiritual lives beyond the pulpit.  Some of us better than others in some areas, but the bottom line is that we spend so much time pouring into others that I don’t think I really saw a good percentage of people in that room that could honestly say their lives were balanced well.

I don’t picture this goal playing out as someone’s cheerleader…that’s just not me.  I’m certainly a more a realist than a rah-rah gal, but I can provide encouragement as appropriate.  I want to be able to share God’s great gift to me in a real and practical way.  I’ve got the business plan laid out for this, I see this happening–all in God’s time.  Goals.

Some of my personal goals have my reignited too…more to be revealed in that area.  Now to go fold the mountain of laundry on my bed so I can get into it and kick off a new and busy week.  Life sure is a wild ride!