Goals for 2011

At the beginning of every year, I like to sit down and think about what I would like to accomplish in the next twelve months. Some years I focus more on health (one year I went without any kind of soda), and other years I focus on education and career (another year I wanted to take the GRE and begin my Masters). Last year, I wanted to potty train Cash and sell the house. Interesting, right? Both were somewhat out of my control, but both were accomplished. What about this year?

At the very beginning of this year, I told myself that I wasn't going to make any concrete goals. I just wanted to be settled in our house before it turned 2012 (hopefully well before 2012). But then I heard a sermon at church and began to rethink all the goals I had ever set for myself. Health, career, education, milestones ... I had been totally missing the biggest and most important goal of my life.

Colossians 1:3-14

³ We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— ⁵ the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel ⁶ that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. ⁷ You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The pastor told us that every aspect of our lives is called to be a part of your Christian life - every aspect, from decisions about moving to how we address our spouses and children, what we watch on television and the activities that we do with our families. It made me think, was mine? Does my life reflect Christ? Do I allow every area of my life to be spirit-filled?

I know that my life has been changed by Jesus Christ. Just as this pastor said, I may live in the same house and wear the same clothes, but Jesus Christ has changed me, and I have been transferred to the Kingdom of the Beloved Son. But do I see the change?

Do I think about that as I go through my day? Is the sacrifice that Christ Jesus made on my mind? The worldview is so often pushed into our lives through TV, movies, books, and music. It makes a difference when you start to see these as "fuel on the domain of darkness." Once you've been changed, you view strength, wisdom, knowledge, joy, and love differently. I have been rescued from that dark domain and been delivered into His Kingdom, and so, I should strive to fill my life with things that point to Him, not to the world.

He also brought up these questions - Is it normal to grow as a Christian? Is there tangible evidence? How can I show that I'm growing? These questions are hard for me. As housework and babies seem to be at the front of my priorities, I wonder if I have my priorities in the right order. Don't get me wrong, I know that God has a plan for me in staying at home, but I am a child of God first, and He should be at the top of my list. How can I be the wife and mother that He wants me to be if I am not growing and filled with the Spirit?

Paul says in this passage that the gospel is bearing fruit and growing around the world, just as it has been doing among you... but is it growing in me? The pastor said that there would be physical measurements when we make changes. I believe that those measurements would not be in inches or pounds (like with a diet), but with a walk that is closer to God, closer to our spouses, and Christian friends. I believe that others would see this difference, and it would possibly impact their lives, too.

So as I am starting this new year, I've had a new focus - everything else aside, I want to strive to become more spirit-filled, and as my scripture for this week says, the only way to be spirit-filled is to be in the Word. Time management has always been a problem for me, and with sleepless nights and schedules that are off and on, sitting down to be in the Word is hard. I'm working on it though, and I feel that little steps are better than no steps at all. (prayers please)