WRideout
07-13-2016, 07:24 PM
For a time I myself succumbed to the siren call of personal glory. I had begun to believe that if I could not trust anyone else, I would have to make my own way in the world. Without any moral compass to guide me, I believed that wealth, position and accomplishments would be the measuring stick of my success. I worked hard on achieving personal success, never guessing that God had something quite different in mind for me.
A few years ago, I found in my personal papers an old list I had written when I was younger. I had been given some advice as a young man that I should write down all the goals that were important to me, so that I would be sure to accomplish them. To me, living a life without accomplishment or a sense of striving toward goals would seem almost like not living at all. So at the tender age of thirty-seven I thought about what goals I should be achieving in my life in the near future, and dutifully wrote them down:
1. By the age of forty, earn $42,000 a year
2. Move up to a management position at work
3. Buy a house for my family
4. Build a small boat
Now, almost twenty years later, I can take stock of the lasting significance of those goals. I did earn the money I wanted, and more; I earned and lost several times that amount, and in the end, have little more than I started with. I moved up in my chosen profession, only to lose my job time after time. I held many management level positions, none of which actually satisfied me for any length of time. The house went to my ex-wife after our marriage unraveled, and the boat, I cut up and put out with the trash after it developed incurable rot.
The things that have stayed with me over time have been the things that can’t be bought, or achieved by one’s own effort; the laughter of my children, the miracle of wildflowers in a mountain meadow, the healing power of forgiveness. Even marriage, as it turns out, is a gift of God. When I was not looking at all, God presented me with a wonderful, loving woman who became my wife.
So many of the things I strove for all those years turned out to be hollow, while the things I most care about were simply gifts. Gifts bestowed by God the creator of the universe; a God whose deepest desire is simply to know me, and to be known in return. I have been thinking about another set of goals that will carry me for the foreseeable future, goals that will have some permanence, goals that will positively affect me and all those around me. They are:
1. To know God;
2. To know God;
3. To know God.
A few years ago, I found in my personal papers an old list I had written when I was younger. I had been given some advice as a young man that I should write down all the goals that were important to me, so that I would be sure to accomplish them. To me, living a life without accomplishment or a sense of striving toward goals would seem almost like not living at all. So at the tender age of thirty-seven I thought about what goals I should be achieving in my life in the near future, and dutifully wrote them down:
1. By the age of forty, earn $42,000 a year
2. Move up to a management position at work
3. Buy a house for my family
4. Build a small boat
Now, almost twenty years later, I can take stock of the lasting significance of those goals. I did earn the money I wanted, and more; I earned and lost several times that amount, and in the end, have little more than I started with. I moved up in my chosen profession, only to lose my job time after time. I held many management level positions, none of which actually satisfied me for any length of time. The house went to my ex-wife after our marriage unraveled, and the boat, I cut up and put out with the trash after it developed incurable rot.
The things that have stayed with me over time have been the things that can’t be bought, or achieved by one’s own effort; the laughter of my children, the miracle of wildflowers in a mountain meadow, the healing power of forgiveness. Even marriage, as it turns out, is a gift of God. When I was not looking at all, God presented me with a wonderful, loving woman who became my wife.
So many of the things I strove for all those years turned out to be hollow, while the things I most care about were simply gifts. Gifts bestowed by God the creator of the universe; a God whose deepest desire is simply to know me, and to be known in return. I have been thinking about another set of goals that will carry me for the foreseeable future, goals that will have some permanence, goals that will positively affect me and all those around me. They are:
1. To know God;
2. To know God;
3. To know God.