Monday Meditation

Hi everyone 

I appreciate the turning of a new year. It’s an annual opportunity to re-set, re-think, let go and begin again. Someone once said, “you are never too old to dream a new dream, or pursue a new goal.” I’m a big fan of goals. 

In my coaching practice, I work with pastors pursuing specific goals to strengthen their lives and ministry. In my experience goals act like a compass. They prevent inertia and provide clarity of purpose. There is something wonderful about reaching a goal, however large or small. On the other hand, new year resolutions often end with testimonies of failure. They land in a heap like all the new equipment. But that’s no reason to forsake a goal. Every marathon completed begins with intention. Learning Spanish or guitar is the same. Intention is the heart of it. When I tell someone my intention to improve my Spanish with daily practice, the accountability often increases the chances the practice will be successful. 

Saint Paul certainly had no interest in New Year’s resolutions, though he understood the pursuit of goals in his own life. “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, and straining toward what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” At the risk of sounding more pious than I am, I want to pursue the same goal: knowing Christ-in-the-depths. Steady on, day by day, this is the supreme goal that lies under all the other goals. Someday, ask me how I’m doing. 

After all, we are partners-on-the-Way. 

Among my lesser goals, is increasing my birding skills and the number of species seen.  These are the Sandhill Cranes who are rare visitors to our area in Maryland.