I’m a firm believer that this is necessary for us to do on a regular basis, not just the New Year’s Resolutions time. Taking stock gives us the advantage of looking back for a reason – to see where we’ve come from, what we’ve accomplished, what we still need to do. It is incredibly important to look at the ‘successes’ as well as the ‘failures’. Both give us information about who we are as well as how we handle both conditions.
In reviewing both successes and failures, we need to look at all the forces that influenced the results – what occurred that aided or hindered. I have heard that we learn more from our failures than our successes. Yes and no. It depends on HOW we look at both. How do we view the failures, how do we analyze, how do we learn from the experience. Also, we need to apply this same thinking to successes, basically in order to repeat them. What did we do that facilitated success?
But ‘taking stock’ is really more than only reviewing successes and failures, it’s also looking at how we have grown, what areas are we more ‘proficient’ in, who are we now as a result of (fill in the blank). Where are we in goal achievement? Did we put intervening check marks to help us assess if this was our best approach? And other personal growth questions. Simply getting through the day is not a goal achievement, though I admit that is a value statement.
Most important, in my world, is have we grown in our relationship with the Lord. Quite honestly, everything else is merely an extension from this foundation. We are not here just to take up space and idly move from day to day with little thought about who we are becoming and how we can effectively be useful to the Lord. We have been bought by a great price. Read again 1 Corinthians 6:20 – 7:23. The Lord gave His life for us so that we would no longer be slaves of unrighteousness, so that we could live the abundant life, and so that we could be witnesses of His great love and bring many into an understanding of who He is and what He does.
Taking stock is a very critical act on our part that should never be lightly considered. It is our opportunity to assess not only where we are but our direction and what, if any, adjustments need to be made. It is our time to assess, reassess, refine, and develop our next steps on our life’s journey.
