Though it may sound slightly pathetic, or more precise – maudlin, do you have your own ‘To Be Accomplished’ list? This is not a ‘Bucket List’ of places you want to go or things you want to see … this is a list of ‘Things’ You want to do, accomplish before you die. So…. how are you progressing toward checking them off? And even more important, do you experience a kind of satisfaction when you do check off an item?
Those weren’t idle questions… actually, they are meant to help you consider and really look at what’s truly important to you and your life. If you are only looking for a ‘comfortable life’, you are selling yourself short. Life is so much more than the easy path. Besides, exactly what is your ‘comfortable life’, your easy path? Do you have operationalized definitions? Would you recognize what your seeking if you found it? Would you see what your not focusing on at the same time?
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. (Matthew 7: 13)
“The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him;” (Psalms 37:23)
“Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:26-27)
The promises. The dangers. Your choice.
What do these last words have to do with checking off your “Accomplishment” list? Everything. How you go about accomplishing your goals, your plans speak volumes about who you are and what you value. We can never justify our words or behaviors that really are selfish, self-serving with a ‘it’s for the greater good’. Whose good? Is it really possible to do the wrong thing, for the wrong reason, and still have it be ‘for the good’? (Rhetorical question.)
Personally, I love checking off those things that I really wanted to accomplish. Completing one’s goals is very satisfying. But it has to be filtered through our words and behaviors. Method is always trumped by character traits.
