End/Beginning

      It just seems appropriate to me that as I write my last blog for the end of the year 2023, that I also write my blog for the begining of the new year of 2024! After all this is the last day of 2023 so let's look back and see how well we did especially with the goals we set at its very beginning. Did you fulfill any of those goals you set a whole year ago? Did you succeed at some? Did you progress with a few? Do you even remember any of them? Are you going to begin this new year of 2024 with the same goals?  Are they the same because you totally failed to achieve them in 2023 OR because you DID make good or even a little progress, but haven't quite achieved it to the level you desire? 

     May I just share a few thoughts with you about goal setting, which in no way makes me on top of my goal setting game either, but I have been thinking about this a lot lately. My first thought is that even if we have to set the same goals as long as we keep trying and moving forward we will eventually succeed. Maybe our movement IS super slow and shakey but it is at least forward movement. And each tiny step builds on another one to move you even further. So next year you can (and perhaps you can and did this year) look back and see that you actually DID make some fairly decent progress! So just continue to build on it this year with new goals. Looking back can also help you see if you need to just tweek the goals a bit or change them up entirely.

     My other thought has been that to set goals we need to look deep inside of ourselves. Maybe some of our goals ARE to help others and all, BUT the only way you can truly have any influence on others and help them is by improving yourself. We cannot change other people no matter how much we want to; we can only change us. Now, with that, I am not saying you change yourself to please others, especially when they are asking you to do things that are not good, but you change yourself to be the best person you can be. And the best person you can be is the one the Lord is asking you to become by putting the Lord first in our life and living the golden rule that He set for us. Loving the Lord first, with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, followed by our neighbor as ourselves. And who is our neighbor? Your spouse should be next in line after the Lord, followed by your children, then other family members, then friends, and those who you associate with and then the circle expands to include every person you meet. You need to fix you so you can leave other people better for having been around you.

     So enjoy a safe and happy and positive "good-bye" to 2023 and welcome 2024 with a desire to set those goals to be the best you you can become this year!!