Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. Lewis
Psalm 20:4 May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!
Proverbs 16: 1-3, 9 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 19: 21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Proverbs 21: 5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Call them plans. Call them a "bucket list." Call them goals. We all have them. We all have dreams and hopes.
As I age I've become more proactive in achieving, working towards goals. I apply the twenty minute principle. The adage "slow and steady wins the race" plays through my mind.
It's not enough to say "someday I'm going to ....." Make that someday now. Work on that goal 20 minutes a day. It's amazing what can be accomplished little by little. God used that principle in driving the nations out before the Israelites - Deuteronomy 7: 22
The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little.
It's important to constantly reassess what I am spending time on every day. If I want to achieve any dreams and desires, working to make them a reality is a must. Otherwise, to get to the end of my life with wishes but no fulfilled goals would be a big loser use of this life God has given me.
Ask yourself, what do you really want? If you haven't figured it out yet, pray, ask God to grant you clear vision on dreams and goals, something that gives you purpose and passion for the days He has ordained for you on this earth. And if you're not sure what those passions are, experiment. Research job possibilities, what it takes to hike that trail or achieve that degree. Ask others who've already done it. Get involved with your own interests. It really is up to you to make your dreams and goals and desires come true - whether they be vocational, educational, character development, etc.
Isaiah 28:10 says goals and learning are achieved "precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little."
I am a writer. I've written a couple cook books, have a rough draft of a book about Jerard's impact on my life completed, am working on another book ...all this achieved applying the twenty minute principle. 20 minutes a day writing. 20 minutes a day typing in another book I'm working on. 20 minutes a day, four or five times a week I exercise - working on my goal of maintaining physical fitness and healthy weight.
Proverbs 13: 11-12 Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
My "bucket list" of desires and goals is short but doable - publish a book or two or more; record a CD of songs I've written; earn a masters degree in counseling, hike the Appalachian Trail, spend 3 or 4 days in New York City staying at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and see a Broadway show and a concert at Carnegie Hall.
I hope to start my masters degree in counseling on line relatively soon. I am looking into financial aid for that now.
I've also researched hiking the Appalachian Trail and have a desired date to start a couple years out - after we re enter the USA and become re-acclimated with it's culture.
What's your goal(s)? dream(s)? desire(s)?
God says, "I will never leave you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous.." Josh. 1:5-6
God grants us dreams and desires. But no matter what the dreams and desires are, my main desire, to seek Him first in all I do and say, is the overarching dream and desire of mine.
