A Year in Review, and A year Yet to be Seen

It is the beginning of a new year and with that so many of us start with new goals or a new resolve. This will be the year… We have tried to change things in our lives and we always start off with the best intentions, but then something happens. We get sick, or extra work from our jobs sets us back, our kids get sick, or we wake up one morning and are so tired from the days before we just don’t have any motivation.

This is the exact moment when the rubber meets the road.

This is when we determine what kind of person we are going to be.

So what are you going to do?

Call it quits on those goals you had at the beginning of the year and determine that it’s just not doable? Label yourself a failure and figure they were stupid goals anyway.

Last year, I wrote a list of goals that I thought were very doable. As I went back through my goals and the things I accomplished, I realized a very important truth that we all have heard many times:

“If you aim for nothing, you hit it every time.”

I realized that the goals that I had set for last year helped me to accomplish some things that I would have never done if I had not set any goals. I may not have been successful at every one of my goals, but in every one of my goals, I MADE PROGRESS.

Isn’t that what you are hoping for? Don’t you want to say at the end of the year, I made progress? Maybe not as much progress as I had set out to accomplish, but I did make progress.

One of my goals was to read 10 pages of a book every day. That would have given me a total of 3650 pages. I was short and only read 3289, but if I had not set this goal I would not have read 3289 pages.

Another one of my goals was to work on my daughter’s crosstich every day for 30 minutes. Again, I did not work on it every day, but I did work on it as you can see from the picture I took last year to the picture I took this year.

I have these things as goals for this year again, and I am excited to see how much I will accomplish.

I set the goal of reading 10 pages per day, because I want to become a certified Biblical Counselor. In order to do this, I needed to read 1,000 pages from a list of books given to me by those who will certify me. I worked last year at many of the requirements to become a certified Biblical counselor. I have one more thing to accomplish and that is to start counseling people under the direction of my supervisor.

Another of my goals for this year is to actually become a certified Biblical counselor. I am excited to see where God will direct my steps in relation to this.

However, if I did not have goals, I would not have been able to accomplish any of this.

There are things that I have been doing for years that I don’t need to write down as goals. These things have become habits. They would not have become habits if I had not consistently made them a part of my life. I was determined to have these things be habits in my life.

So the purpose of goals is to accomplish some things, but it is also to develop habits.

My encouragement to you is to set goals. Make them doable goals. Remind yourself of these goals as often as you need reminding so you don’t forget. I wrote my goals down in my calendar this year. This way I can go over them and keep them fresh in my mind so I can accomplish them. On the days, you are tired and don’t feel like accomplishing your goals, keep the future in mind. You will happy you put aside the feelings of failure or apathy and took on the feeling of accomplishment through determination.

Be determined. Be motivated. Accomplish your goals every day. When you miss a day, don’t let that be what stops you from keeping on. Resolve to stay committed.