I love setting goals; it’s my favorite part about the end of a year. Since childhood, I’ve embraced my dad’s teaching on goal-setting wholeheartedly. I’ve written on this website about 5 simple things to consider as you set resolutions for the new year.
How Did I Do?
So, this year, as usual, I looked over my last year’s goals to see how many I have met.
Very few of the boxes got checked this year. We did save some money for retirement. I read a lot of good books. I walked thousands of steps and taught my children first grade and preschool. But my plans to work out were basically a laugh. And many of our shared family goals were predicated on a living situation that changed. We moved from a small city where we were settled into a community and church to a large city where we knew no one. We had to try to plant new roots. Find a new church. Get to know new neighbors. Relearn how to drive in a crowded city. My grand plans for the year were swamped. But we accomplished many goals that we didn’t even know to set at the beginning of last year.
So what goals will I set this year? Some will be the same as last year’s. I want to make it a priority to cook healthy meals for my family, spend time daily with God, and serve my church. But I no longer know what my role in my church and neighborhood looks like, so my goals can’t all be the specific, measurable goals that Michael Hyatt talks about in his Best Year Ever. This year, my resolutions are more gentle.
Holding Goals with Open Hands
I’ve read people’s thoughts on gentle goal-setting before, and my Type A personality often leaves the discussion feeling uncomfortable. How do you get anything done if you don’t aim for specific goals? The answer is usually that you don’t get as much done as you could.
However, as wonderful as goals are, they can’t see the future. Only God knows what my future holds. So I can and should write out what I want my children to learn in our homeschool this year. I ought to plan for daily time with God, or it won’t happen. I should try to envision how I can better use my time to manage my home and glorify God in my interactions with and service toward others. But I must hold these goals with open hands.
Tomorrow I want to be better, by God’s grace. However, I don’t actually know if my plans for tomorrow and my goals for this next year are His plan. I’ll find out.
Let’s write goals. Let’s resolve to do better. But if God’s plan looks different than the course we charted out for ourselves, let’s keep going forward with joy and hope.
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