Are You a Goal Setter?

Isn’t that what we do in the new year? We set goals! We call them New Year’s Resolutions. It’s a fancy way to say , “setting this year’s goals”. So, are you a goal setter?

Do you do it? Do you set goals? Maybe not just in the New Year, but in your every day life?

I don’t, really. I’m awful at planning ahead. My closest friends and family know it. The goals I set are for my mind only. I rarely share them. And the ones I do set are so lofty, almost to the point of being like those kindergarten questions of ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ Yeah, my answers might be something like, “I want to be a personal trainer, a writer, a photographer and a health coach”.

Friends, I went to school to be a teacher! All I’ve ever done is teach in a classroom and raise my kids! How would I ever fall into any of those lofty, picture-perfect vocations? But what if I was a goal setter and set steps in place to achieve my goals?

About a year ago I asked my, then, 11 year old, “What’s important to you? What are your goals in life?” I didn’t think 11 was too young for this question to be intriguing. She answered with a very tweenage attitude and said, “Nothing. Why do I need goals?”

Cue the shocked mom face like ‘that did not just come out of my child’s mouth!’ But it did. I’m pretty sure I gave a lengthy lecture on ‘giving a care’ about her future and why it’s important to set goals…blah, blah, blah. *Tweenage eye roll*

Since then, I’ve left it alone. Maybe it was too soon to talk about it. Maybe I lecture too much (probably). Maybe it will all shake out when it’s supposed to.

Well, guess what! Just the other day at school drop off, 8 degrees outside, my daughter, now 12, must have been contemplating the new year and society’s mandatory time to think of ways to improve one’s self. She gets out of my van and pauses all goodbyes to say, “Guess what my goal is!”

Okay, I’m freezing at this point, her sisters are freezing, waiting to kiss me goodbye before school and now is when she brings this up? (She must not have wanted to hear how excited I was about setting a goal for herself!)

Here’s what she said. “My goal is to live to see 2100!” And off she ran into school. I’m all, “Really?!” This is a very long range goal. Quite the long play, girl!

But check all this out! There are so many goals wrapped up in this one big goal that will keep her in check for the next 80 years! I’m thrilled she shared this goal with me because I’ll hold her accountable! Oh, I won’t forget this one!

What does it take to live a long life? I mean, she’ll be 92 in the year 2100! Healthy diet, exercise, healthy environment, good relationships and, my favorite, keeping the Fourth Commandment!

This is the first commandment with a promise! (Ephesians 6:2)

Check this out:

Deuteronomy 5:16

Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

All relationships in authority, really, is what this commandment is talking about. Honor them! Obey them! And what will happen? You will not only have long life on this Earth, but “it may go well with you”… You might enjoy the long life! How wonderful!

But here’s what we can learn from it: Let’s set goals! Set lofty goals! Why not? Let’s set long term goals! Short term goals! Goals that seem so far fetched that it just doesn’t seem reachable. Let’s tell others so they can hold us accountable! Consider all the steps that need to take place to achieve said goal! Then take those steps forward to achieve it, bit by bit!

Work for it!

Go get it!

You just might reach that goal!

Every step in the right direction is a step in the right direction!! That goal is not going to achieve itself!

It needs you!

So, are you a goal setter? Go out there, set goals, take the steps! Ask God to help you, to guide you, and to be with you every step of the way!

He’ll provide the strength!

Go get it!

Achieve great things!