How Are You Doing On Your Goals?

 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

 

          By the time you read this, we will be on our third day of 2022. How are you doing on your goals? My knee-jerk reaction is that I’m doing horribly, but that wouldn’t be accurate. In the past two days, I haven’t completed the goals that I set for the whole year. Am I 0.54% of the way done with any goals in two days? How in the world would I measure that? On the other hand, have I failed to take any steps toward any of my goals? Am I like Sherlock in Young Sherlock Holmes, throwing down my violin in disgust with the proclamation that I’ll never learn to play it – after less than 10 minutes of practice?

          Numbering our days is hard. It’s easier to engage in all-or-nothing thinking than to start over every morning or every hour. We have 365 days or 525,600 minutes in a year to get things done. Two days, whether successful or not, just doesn’t give us a right to declare ourselves winners or losers for the year. That’s not a good way to number our days. We are not the hare in the story of the Tortoise and the Hare.

          Neither are we tortoises. If we are to number our days, we must remember that we only have 365 days in which to accomplish our annual goals. “Tomorrow” never comes. December 31, 2022 will be here far too soon if we don’t live consciously and do what we have the time and opportunity to do.

          And to be honest, I suspect part of my problem today is that it’s my day of rest, so I’m looking at a day that doesn’t get to be filled with all of the accomplishments it could. I have a greater, tougher task – to actively and consciously rest. One of my goals is to learn to be a better rester. And I think this day of rest might include some thinking time about the whole idea of rest.