A new goal
I have been pondering a regular conscious stream since my post last week about goals.
Even though I have not been pursuing any major goals and have been flexible in my pursuit of disciplines, my life is naturally pretty ordered.
I am thinking of tightening the routine a bit. I want to remain flexible, but have a more identifiable pattern which addresses my priorities; God, family, others (in that order).
My two current goals are to spend quality time with my family and reflect on how life is going. These are written goals for me and are manifested as: being home for dinner 80% of the time (which is followed by 2 hours of dedicated family time), and taking two reflection and prayer retreats each year (besides an hour each week usually on Friday to reflect).
Besides these two goals, I spend 15 to 30 minutes at the beginning of each day (except Monday when I usually spend more) reading and praying, but this isn’t as much a goal or a discipline as an enjoyable habit.
This morning I am reading in “The Unexpected Teachings of Jesus”, covering Luke 5:12-16. The author makes a good observation. In the midst of “booming business” for Jesus, instead of hunkering down and putting in the long days, he seeks “deserted places and prays”.
Life is crazy today, we live at a faster pace then ever. Waiting 5 minutes for a computer to boot drives many of us to frustration! Regular times to slow down are needed to maintain some balance.
I am thinking of making my morning reading a goal; bumping to one hour 5 mornings a week. This probably seems like no big deal, but it has taken quite a bit of thought on my part. First, I was waiting until April to re-evaluate goals and its not April yet. Second, I want to remain flexible and open to changes in direction. But I don’t think this goal is a major adjustment to either of these, so I am going to add this goal, until April and re-evaluate then. After all, isn’t that what being flexible is all about?
BTW, I have had several questions as to what two major goals I want to set in April. I am not saying yet, your gonna have to keep checking back here until I decide whether or not to put them in writing.