Life Goals

I have had many goals in this life. As a kid my goals were things associated with school and, ultimately, finishing school. As a young adult my goals were things like finding a good job, supporting myself and finding a life partner. After I was married my goals became more shared goals with my husband - things like finding employment in the different places we lived to contribute to meeting our mutual financial obligations, supporting my husbands’ different career advancements and our mutual goal of getting back to the Seattle area where our families were, buying a house, having children and ultimately leaving the workforce to become a homemaker. Having accomplished these goals, I have new goals - things like getting more exercise and strengthening my muscles to slow down my physical decline, eating better, losing weight, helping our children get through school and grow spiritually as well, etc. I am sure you have a list of your own goals be they personal or professional.

But I have only 1 LIFE goal that never changes. When I was in high school, our Bible teacher showed us a video of an interview with someone - I remember almost nothing about who or why or even what it was about. But I still remember this one thing: when asked what his future goals were, he said “To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.” From that moment on, that became MY life goal. And that has shaped my thinking and helped me prioritize my life. It is something that is always in my head. Am I being a good testimony? Am I being a good example? Am I being a good representative for Christ? Is my speech edifying? Are my actions honoring to God? Would my life draw anyone to Christ? Am I available to talk to someone about Jesus? Am I willing? So many of these questions swirl around in my head as I live out this life. And I often evaluate things I do or say after it’s all said and done and ask God whether I took a step closer or a step backward. I take a lot of backward steps and I do not claim, by any means, to be very GOOD at living my life in a way that is always honoring to God. I am terribly wicked by nature and my motives are not always as pure as I wish they were. But like I said, this is my life’s GOAL. It is something I am striving for. It gives me a purpose and an exciting reason to get up each morning! If I fail to move forward toward this goal at the end of the day I talk to God about it and ask forgiveness and for strength to try again tomorrow.

It’s a goal that can never fully be achieved in this lifetime which is what makes it a perfect goal for me to strive for because I never have to set a new goal to replace it with. I have motivation for each day - to live my life in such a way that I can gather as many people together as I can and take them to heaven with me. My goal IS ultimately achievable. My hope is for a crowd of people I can persuade to meet me in heaven but, in the end, if I am doing my best and meet only 1 person in heaven that came to know Christ through my testimony, I will still have met my goal and I will feel blessed!