Happy New Year! I really can't believe that it's already 2017. Last year flew by so quickly I feel like I blinked twice and it was over. As I start on this trek that is the new year I do so with a resolve to live life a little differently.
In 2017, before anything else, I want to love God and people well. For so long I've been the type of person that simply returned the love I was given. I showed people the kindness and the love that they showed me and never sought to surpass their level of affection.
If someone was mean to me or didn't go out of their way to be nice then I wouldn't go out of my way either. I've never felt bad about loving people conditionally, until now. For the last few months I haven't been able to shake the sense that I'm doing a disservice to myself and others with the way that I love.
It's risky to love people. If I'm speaking for just myself, it's hard to put my heart on the line especially when I'm not sure if my feelings are going to be reciprocated or even welcomed.
For a while now, I've really been trying to reflect and embody the life of Christ. The more that I dive into the example of Jesus, the more I realize that loving without any expectations of what you'll get in return was his specialty.
When I look at scripture, when I evaluate the life of Christ and the way that God loves, it's very clear and without question that God loves without condition. He loved us so much that he gave his son to die for our sins so that we could, if we so choose to accept it, have eternal life.
I can't imagine giving my life for someone who would never appreciate it, never acknowledge it, never thank me for it...yet that's what Christ did. Jesus gave his life so that humans like you and I, would have a chance at eternal life if we wanted it. Jesus had no guarantees that people would accept his offer or love him in return and he died anyway. Despite the uncertainty, despite the pain, Jesus loved us anyway.
I feel like I'm at a crossroad in my life and my walk of faith. I can't continue to love with condition. I can't keep being the person that only puts their heart on the line when it's safe. I can't do all of those things and continue to call myself a follower of Christ. I just can't do it.
This year won't be easy. It will be a journey of putting my feelings and everything that 27 years of living in this world has taught me aside in order to love people the way that Christ loves me. To be a vessel of Christ's love with every person that I come in contact with. It won't be something that I'm perfect at or that I get down in a day but it's something that I'm committed to, something that I won't give up on.
So cheers to loving people and God well. May we embody his sacrifice, his grace and his approach at life. May we aim to love without condition and project that love into the lives of everyone we encounter.
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Vision and Goals
On December 28th of 2015 I grabbed my journal went into my room and wrote out my vision and my goals for 2016. In the past, time and time again, year after year I had written out my new years resolution and they would only last for about a month or two at the most.
I would come up with these lists and be super excited about them for a few weeks and then before the holiday cheer had gotten a chance to wear off, my resolutions were a thing of the past. I know I'm not alone in this, I read a statistic the other day that said only 8% of Americans are successful at achieving and sticking to their New Years resolutions.
So I decided that I didn't want to do resolutions anymore but the idea of setting goals and creating a vision for my life each year was something that I was very attracted to. So that's what I did.
I went into my room and took a good long look at my life. Where did I see myself in twelve months? What kind of life did I want? What kind of people did I want in my life? How did I want to look in a year? How was my spiritual life doing and did I want to improve it?
All of those questions led to me coming up with 5 areas of my life that I wanted to improve. The areas that I identified were faith, relationships, finances, fitness and outreach. So I developed goals that fit each of those areas and wrote them down in my journal. I didn't just write things like "improve my physical fitness" instead I wrote "develop a routine of exercising 5 times a week and plan my meals and workouts at the beginning of the week." That's just one line from my fitness goal but as you can see it was specific and clear it wasn't general and undefined.
I wrote out steps for how I would achieve each goal and I didn't wait until January first to start. As soon as I closed my notebook the vision that I created for my life began. To stay on track I set up a biweekly reminder in my phone that would help me to remember to go back to my goals and see if I was on track and if not how I could get back to that.
I would be a big fat liar if I said that I was always diligent about doing these biweekly check-ins. Sometimes weeks would go by where I didn't take a moment to sit down and read over my goals and check my progress. Since it was new, I had to train myself to stay on track and to be consistent and intentional about the life I wanted and the type of person I wanted to be.
Today I looked back at my vision and the goals I set for this year and I've achieved all of them except for one. One of them I made bigger than myself, knowing that it was a stretch but wanting to try it anyway. I might not have been fully successful but if I wouldn't have written it down and attempted it I wouldn't be as far as I am today.
I'm sharing all of this with you today to say that you don't have to wait until the first of the year to change your life. You can start today. Today you can take a moment to sit down and come up with five or less areas of your life that you would like to see improvement in. Five areas of your life where you can be intentional and diligent about putting in the work and turning those weak spots into strengths.
I haven't started working on my vision and goals for 2017 yet but after reading over my 2016 goals and seeing how well I did I'm beyond excited to do it.
I strongly encourage you to consider taking the steps to making your life exactly the way that you want it to be. If you're unhappy, you don't have to stay that way. If you lack financial responsibility, today is a great day to set your mind on working on that. If you don't like the person you see in the mirror, right now is the time to change that.
If you're not sure where to start or if you just need some support please don't hesitate to reach out to me in the comments section and I'll do what I can to help. You're one decision away from starting a journey that could potentially change the course of your life. The moment is now, what are you waiting for?
Until next time. Xoxo.
I would come up with these lists and be super excited about them for a few weeks and then before the holiday cheer had gotten a chance to wear off, my resolutions were a thing of the past. I know I'm not alone in this, I read a statistic the other day that said only 8% of Americans are successful at achieving and sticking to their New Years resolutions.
So I decided that I didn't want to do resolutions anymore but the idea of setting goals and creating a vision for my life each year was something that I was very attracted to. So that's what I did.
I went into my room and took a good long look at my life. Where did I see myself in twelve months? What kind of life did I want? What kind of people did I want in my life? How did I want to look in a year? How was my spiritual life doing and did I want to improve it?
All of those questions led to me coming up with 5 areas of my life that I wanted to improve. The areas that I identified were faith, relationships, finances, fitness and outreach. So I developed goals that fit each of those areas and wrote them down in my journal. I didn't just write things like "improve my physical fitness" instead I wrote "develop a routine of exercising 5 times a week and plan my meals and workouts at the beginning of the week." That's just one line from my fitness goal but as you can see it was specific and clear it wasn't general and undefined.
I wrote out steps for how I would achieve each goal and I didn't wait until January first to start. As soon as I closed my notebook the vision that I created for my life began. To stay on track I set up a biweekly reminder in my phone that would help me to remember to go back to my goals and see if I was on track and if not how I could get back to that.
I would be a big fat liar if I said that I was always diligent about doing these biweekly check-ins. Sometimes weeks would go by where I didn't take a moment to sit down and read over my goals and check my progress. Since it was new, I had to train myself to stay on track and to be consistent and intentional about the life I wanted and the type of person I wanted to be.
Today I looked back at my vision and the goals I set for this year and I've achieved all of them except for one. One of them I made bigger than myself, knowing that it was a stretch but wanting to try it anyway. I might not have been fully successful but if I wouldn't have written it down and attempted it I wouldn't be as far as I am today.
I'm sharing all of this with you today to say that you don't have to wait until the first of the year to change your life. You can start today. Today you can take a moment to sit down and come up with five or less areas of your life that you would like to see improvement in. Five areas of your life where you can be intentional and diligent about putting in the work and turning those weak spots into strengths.
I haven't started working on my vision and goals for 2017 yet but after reading over my 2016 goals and seeing how well I did I'm beyond excited to do it.
I strongly encourage you to consider taking the steps to making your life exactly the way that you want it to be. If you're unhappy, you don't have to stay that way. If you lack financial responsibility, today is a great day to set your mind on working on that. If you don't like the person you see in the mirror, right now is the time to change that.
If you're not sure where to start or if you just need some support please don't hesitate to reach out to me in the comments section and I'll do what I can to help. You're one decision away from starting a journey that could potentially change the course of your life. The moment is now, what are you waiting for?
Until next time. Xoxo.
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