Recently I was asked to write an essay about my long-term goals, normally this wouldn’t be a problem. You see, I used to be all about goals, short-term and long-term goals, I’ve held onto 5 year plans for as long as I can remember and I’ve loved them, until recently.
Lately, I’ve kind of realized that in some odd sort of way, if you aren’t careful goals can limit you, a bit like keeping a dog on a leash or enjoying a boat ride on such a strict course/schedule it doesn’t allow you to wander a few yards out to stop to see the dolphins. Goals can be good, I am really not saying I think all goals are bad, but the more I thought about what my goals were, the more I realized gone are the specific things or the focus on outcomes I so desperately held onto, instead I’m growing in appreciation for the process and callings I believe so fully in; the beautiful, exhausting, sometimes crippling process which often brings you to a place you’d never imagine, not out of some noble personal deed but because you simply are called.
So what do I really want for my life now? Well instead of lists of specific outcomes what I most want is to follow God, to seize every opportunity I have to help, to not get caught up in what *I* want or the limited vision *I* have and instead see the incredible doors God opens, which if I stopped focusing on my own ideas, I’d be better able to enter. I want to be the yes person, I want to be the person who welcomes each new & beautiful journey, however hard. I don’t ever want to answer no simply because it wasn’t in the narrow little world of my imagination. I may have the goal to save an emergency fund and of course that is a prudent and wise choice, but I want to make sure if a brother is in need and I can help by giving $100+, my thought isn’t on my own goals and instead on the opportunity I have to help.
I don’t see goals as a bad thing, but I’m being cautious that goals don’t become the out I need in order to do less, but instead the freedom I have to do more.
