We've finally been getting rain. It doesn't take much for the world to clothe itself in green again. There are patches in the lawn that will take a while to come back but even these have a few blades of grass growing.
The crickets have started their requiem for summer. The days are starting to close in. Sigh. As much as the colourful splendor of autumn is beautiful, summer feels too short. The cooler nights are a blessing. There's good and not so good in most things.
There's an important anniversary this month. I started the blog August 27, 2012. It's hard to wrap my head around how long it's been. There was no inkling about how much of an integral part of my day it would become. The only goal I set was to do it every day! It quickly became burdensome before finally giving myself permission to take a day off once in a while. Without feeling guilty for not having "lived up" to what was truly an unrealistic goal.
Hmmm. It seems I'm back to musing on goal setting. The purpose driven life.
There was an extremely popular book a few years ago with that title. I read it but, to me, it felt like a self-help book dressed up with Christian homilies. I do want to live life purposefully. Being driven by purpose...I've been there. Yup, git 'er done, regardless of the cost! It absolutely has to be done...whatever "it" is...NOW!!!
The word "goal" is just a word. Maybe because goals are a man made thing that I struggle so hard embracing the concept. My "goals" tend to be set by surrendering the future to the Lord in the hope that many good things will happen. There are prayers for a deeper relationship with Him because it's something I desire with all my heart. My needs are shared with Him knowing He will provide far more than I ever ask for. Does it mean there's no responsibility? Far from it. It's knowing when to stand when there's nothing more this ole human can do.
Are desires the same thing as goals?
Maybe my resistance about goal setting is because scoring a "goal" is part of being on the winning team. Hmmm, this is a worldly understanding.
"He shoots! He sco-o-res!!"
When a goal or target is missed, it means I'm a "loser".
My own ventures into team sports somehow ended up with me being on the team that came in last place no matter what sport it was. I nearly decapitated another student with a discus during track and field exercises way back in grade seven. Okay. I'm not athletic. I did win ribbons riding horses in small, school shows. It was the only sport that ever brought me joy.
Gee, that's a black and white attitude isn't it? Win or lose. There's no room for gray, for the journey of getting there. There's no room for grace.
As Martin Luther King said so fervently, "I have a dream!"
Maybe, just maybe, by praying, by verbalizing my dreams is part of the journey of having those dreams fulfilled. In the only timeframe that matters to me: God's.
"She shoots! She sco-o-res!!"
"For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." Heb 3:14
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