New Years’ Goals for the Plodder

I must admit, I bristle when one of my friends asks me about my goals for the new year.

 I shouldn't. Goals are a good thing, and help us keep from coasting along in apathy. But when you're in a season of life where there seem to be no "major" goals for which to strive, it can be difficult to be motivated to make any goals.  (Don't worry, I'm not just going to complain the whole post -there's a point to all this...stay with me!)

 At this moment, I know that I am right where God wants me to be, doing exactly what He wants me doing, and since I have no clear direction from the Lord about changes in the future, making goals can be difficult.

It's not as if I'm in a corporate job, seeking to climb my way to the next promotion. For a teacher who loves the grade she's teaching, promotion to a different position is a very unwelcome thing. And I already have the degrees I had been working so hard on, so there's no more major educational milestone to be achieved.

 I'm a plodder. I don't have some overarching plan to work towards, nor do I have any dreams of accomplishing some grand thing. But I do know that there are things I need to work on this next year, and written goals will keep me from blowing those things off as too much work or just something to do "later".

One thing I tend to forget is that things I've already been doing for years can count as goals. For example, I have been reading through the entire Bible each year since my early teens, and it's easy to feel like reading through the Bible this year doesn't count as a "real" goal. But it does. It matters immensely that I continue in God's Word, though daily Bible reading and time in prayer have become such a normal part of my life. It matters that I keep that up, and that I keep focused on my relationship with God.

Sometimes goals for the plodder look like continuations of past goals, sometimes with additions, sometimes just the same. Goals don't have to be big and flashy to be worked towards.

The biggest thing to remember about goals is that no matter how easy the goal might seem on paper, you need God's help to achieve it. We need to be looking at our goals, not as something to achieve so we can point to ourselves and say "look what I did", but rather as something that drives us to God in humility, looking to accomplish each goal for His glory, to show off what He did in enabling us to meet each goal. 

So, here I am, plodding along towards my seemingly insignificant goals which may not seem impressive or important to the world, but if each is done to God's glory, each is significant and important to Him. And He is the truest judge of value.