New Day, New Year, New Goals

 

 

 

 

 

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” -Albert Einstein

 

 I absolutely love the New Year! Like most people, I believe that the New Year is a date that we all look forward to. It brings with it a chance for a fresh start and new goals and dreams of a better year. Funny really. When you actually think about it. Why is it we strive to reach that date in history? We become focused on "just making it to the end of the year". It's almost like New Years Day brings a day of forgiveness and a chance to begin anew. I mean honestly we could do that any day of the year, right?! Eh. but for the sake of getting off track let's just continue to focus on the New Year and what it brings.

 

I am so excited for 2014 and all the things that God has in store for me and my little family. This past year has definitely had it's ups and downs. As I began thinking about our family goals and resolutions I couldn't help but wonder....What am I really looking forward to? What do I want to accomplish? Personally? Family? Ministry? And I just kind of drew a complete blank. So I did what most people do I totally stalked my facebook friends and family. :) You wish you would have thought about it too right? Then it dawned on me. Why am I looking to "others" and what "they" desire?! I need to be FOCUSED.

 

 

 

 

So here I am on the first day of the New Year and I am completely oblivious as to what I really want to accomplish in 2014. I tried to write down some ideas and then it hit me. I NEED A PLAN! I am like a fish out of water and if I ever plan to accomplish something I better figure out what I really want.

 

 

 

 

So what do I want to see happen in 2014 you ask. Well I definitely want to spend more time in prayer and studying the Bible. I know that God has great things in store for my life, but I won't ever know what direction to take if I don't have the right map! Then I thought about Lover, my hardworking husband who treats me like a princess. It's my desire to be a better wife and to find ways to encourage him and the dreams that HE has. It's very easy for us to get off track and only think of ourselves in the New Year, but let us not forget those that God has entrusted to us. This leads me to my children. God has been so good to me and blessed me with the most amazing little kidlets ever. I want to work harder at helping them become the godly little children God has called them to be. Homeschooling with an agenda and not just random teaching, but an actual focused plan of action. I believe children today just need our time and so often we push them aside even if we don't intentionally mean to. I want my kids to know that Mommy will take the time out and stop what I am doing if they want my attention because I love them! Kids need to know we LOVE them. So after those goals I decided I needed to think about Ministry. I need to organize my office so that my Sunday mornings aren't so rushed. I need to spend more time with my worship team and getting us back on track. Then of course I have a few personal goals like reading books more often and trying to remove processed foods from our diet :) The list is endless really.

 

“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.” - Sylvia Plath

 

 

 

I mean seriously. Think about it. What happens when you get a flat tire? (besides maybe calling road service or your buddy haha). Ultimately our end result is to get another tire to replace the one that has gone out right?. So what would happen if we got a flat and then went ahead and slashed all the other tires? We would be completely stranded and out of money! We wouldn't want to put ourselves backwards and go all crazy and ruin all our tires right? We would want to get the ONE tire fixed and STAT! This is how it is with goals in our lives. Yes we will have times when we stumble or fall, but don't just give up and slash all your goals. Go get that one single thing fixed and get back on the road. All I could think about when I hear "we got a flat" is my husband going all kinds of crazy ha-ha. God is still working on us and even Lover has his moments. I found this statement to be one of a kind and a good thought provoking one at that!

 

“If you're trying to be miserable, it's important you don't have any goals. No school goals, personal goals, family goals. Your only objective each day should be to inhale and exhale for sixteen hours before you go to bed again. Don't read anything informative, don't listen to anything useful, don't do anything productive. If you start achieving goals, you might start to feel a sense of excitement, then you might want to set another goal, and then your miserable mornings are through. To maintain your misery, the idea of crossing off your goals should never cross your mind.” - John Bytheway



 

Key thoughts: stay focused. don't give up just because you have a setback and most importantly as my mother always said, "if your going to dream, dream BIG"!!! Don't be afraid of what 2014 has in store for you, but go BOLDLY towards your future. See each new day as a challenge to get one step closer to the ultimate prize.