Goal-Setting

The other day, Dave Ramsey (someone I have only recently started following on various social media outlets) posted a Daily Tip that read: "Something magical happens when you write down your goals. It changes the way you see your situation." (Credit: Dave Rasey on Instagram)

I have never been a goal-driven person. I tend to just plod along and end up at a destination I didn't choose, wondering how in the world that happened. Then, I toss up some quick, "Thank You, Lord", not even quite sure if it was His hand or my incompetency that put me there. Sure, God can fill the gaps and turn my failures and bad choices into great opportunities; all the more reason to be thankful. However, to expect God to just whisk in and fix our screw-ups while we sit back like adolescents watching their parents clean their room in their stead is not the wisest way to move through this short life we've been given.

If plodding along is the best you can do right now, by all means, press on! Heaven knows, I will not try to stop you. As long as you're still moving, you're doing more than most people. In my last post, I said I had recently began to make changes in my day-to-day that I feel will create better opportunities for my family and me tomorrow. I want to stop plodding along and start walking with purpose toward a destination chosen after much prayer and meditation.

Today, I will write down my goal, though not here; not yet. It is good to play some things close to the vest, but hopefully, I will be able to share it with you soon. It is in such an early stage of  development, it is just an idea born out of a desperate need. If and when it becomes a reality, the desperate need in my life will have long been past, but just because I don't need it anymore doesn't mean someone else won't.

Pray for me, friends. I am praying for you.

New Beginnings

Why move back to Blogspot?

Throughout the course of my young adult and adult life, I have started, maintained and lost interest in more than my fair share of weblogs. The only one that is currently still posted is over on WordPress under the same name as this one. As I seem to be migrating and consolidating all the digital components of my work and life to Google services, I decided to also "move" my blog here. It is not really a move, as I will not be republishing all the old content from WordPress, instead, leaving it posted there for reference, but any new content will be composed solely under this Blogspot domain.

Why begin blogging again?

The first week of August, my roommate and I decided to make some pretty serious changes to the way we manage our lives. She just turned 29 and I am quickly approaching my 29th birthday. While I don't honestly think this age qualifies as a "whole-life" turning-point (so please, can the comments and sarcasm), it does stir up some emotion in me that if I'm going to make positive changes in my day-to-day lifestyle, why am I still just talking about it? I have decided it is time to start doing something and I would like to chronicle the highs-and-lows. At least the highs, so that during the lows, I can look back and get motivated all over again.

My tomorrow starts today.

Something I often forget or neglect to remember is that my choices today define the results I see tomorrow. Of course, there are always variables and unforeseen circumstances, but if I want to have a blue house tomorrow, I had better buy the paint and paint the house today. In the last 10 years, I have stood on the mountain, blundered down the backside and wallowed in the valley, so as my twenties come to a close, I want to finish on top; spiritually, financially and physically.

I have grown far too complacent with "unsatisfactory" and "sub-par", long ago resigning myself to the notion that what it was, was how it had to be; this was the hand I was dealt, so to speak. Then, not long ago, I realized this was a cop-out. In fact, this idea that some unseen and unknowable force has stacked the cards against me is the granddaddy of all cop-outs. You can disagree and hang your future on fate, but I refuse to do that anymore. I may not have been able to choose my genetics or my name, but I can choose my reputation and my testimony.

Bella Vista

This is a new adventure and from here, I am on level ground, looking forward to the peaks of the mountains ahead. The valleys are lurking out there, right now, out of sight, but I know they're coming. I'm pressing on today, so that when I get to the cusp of that first valley, I can turn a downhill slide into a ride and let the momentum gained propel me farther up the side of that first mountain.

Pray for me, friends. I am praying for you.