Have you ever set goals for yourself?

Perhaps it was for some project. You wanted to have it done by a deadline. Perhaps it was for your writing. You wanted to get so many words written by this date. Maybe it was for school. You were going to finish your math book by thus and such month.

There are all sorts of goals people set:

weight-loss,

writing,

projects,

school,

health,

finances,

study,

and the list could go on and on.

And goals are great! I set goals.

 

But what happens when we don’t reach those goals for some reason or other? Just before we are almost there, . . .

Something occurs and our project doesn’t get finished. I don’t know about you, but it’s happened to me many times.

The question now is, what do we do? Do we quit and give up? Do we burst into tears and run off to “cry” about it on fb? Do we sulk for days because it didn’t get done, or do we take a deep breath, ask our Father what went wrong, and re-evaluate our goals?

Far to often I’m afraid, I get uptight and frustrated because my goals were not reached. I didn’t get my 5k words written this week because of something that came up. Or I didn’t get this project done because of life’s interruptions. Sometimes something didn’t get done because I procrastinated and just didn’t make it a priority. Other times I set too large of a goal. If I know the goal was reasonable, I know I focused the time and attention that I had on it, and I still didn’t make it, then what?

I need to realize that interruptions in “my” plans are “His goals.”

So, the next time you feel like pulling out your hair, because you didn’t reach your goal, remember, “man plans his ways (sets goals), but God directs his steps.” (paraphrased from Prov. 16:9)

What about you? Have you ever set goals you didn’t reach? What is your response when you don’t make that goal? Let me know. I’d love to hear from you.