Goals

Philippians 3:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. "   NIV


I realized today that I forgot to bring you up to date on my monthly resolutions.  As explained before, I knew better than to make a year long resolution.  My sweetheart can tell you that I am the queen of procrastination and ADD moments.  It's all I can do to make it out of the bedroom before I get lost in the process.  In January it was to make my bed every day and I was successful in that endeavor.  In February it was to write a letter to each of my children every Sunday.  It went so well that I actually wrote to my grandchildren as well.  I have almost every letter my mother wrote to me when I was out on my own and especially when I was a new mom.  Way back then (in the age of dinosaurs) handwritten letters were the main way of communicating.  Finding a letter from home was the highlight of my day when I moved far away.  In spite of the miles, it made me feel like my mom was right there with me.  I want more than 140 characters to define my relationship with my children.  They need to know the thoughts of my heart as well as the events of my life.  It has resulted in letters back from my daughters which bring great joy to my heart.  My sons?  Well, that's another story but every mom can tell you that we are grateful to get a one word text from them once every other week or so!

I have a new goal for March and we will see how it goes.  I am adding each thing to the month before so hopefully it won't get overwhelming.  I did manage to make my bed every day except one during February.   That day was sort of a cheat day because I made it, took a nap, and then didn't remake it.  Oh well.  What can I say.  The March thing is a real struggle because on top of giving up fast food for Lent, sweetheart and I are remodeling our kitchen.  We now live out of the dining room and use the bathroom sink.  Pizza delivery is our main source of nutrition.  Sad, I know.  I have to really be creative to keep from going to a fast food place for breakfast and lunch.  Thank goodness Lucky Charms are not considered fast food!

Goals are one of those things that we, as Christians, love to set.  Devotions every day, prayers twice a day, reading the Bible all the way through (well maybe excluding some parts of exodus and all those begats), church every Sunday, tithing, and so on and so on.  Currently I am doing a women's bible study about the book of Daniel by Beth Moore.  It has been my goal to do my homework every week.  Beth is the homework queen.  But when I am finished, I can't say that I didn't learn anything because she makes sure that no part of Daniel goes unlearned!  So far I am 7 weeks in and I have missed one week.  I have the session on DVD so that I can catch up when I get a spare week.  I haven't found it yet but I will let you know!

Realizing that my Abba doesn't keep a list of the goals that I didn't attain was such a relief to me.  I had always been taught that one day I would stand before Him and He would read me all my failures.  I wondered if He had an additional millennium to record it all in.  In my daily walk with Him, He has taught me that it's about what I am trying to do, not what I haven't accomplished. He loves me in spite of my faults and failures.   He knows that the goals I set each day are because I am trying to be more like Him.  Well maybe  not the fast food goal but I know He gets a kick out of watching me try! My main goal each day is to do better than the day before.  Some days I do, some days I don't.  What's so great is that each new day is another chance to make and meet my goals.  I love that my Abba is always there to cheer me on when I am moving towards Him.  And what's even more awesome is that when I am working my way towards Him, He has given me really cool goal setting directions.  Now if I could just figure out if making my bed every day is a heavenly goal!