Keeping Your Soul #1

Goals, Resolutions, and Becoming

There is no use becoming anyone that you don’t want to be. This time of year, people all around the world decide on their new resolutions and goals. Even if you don’t do that, you may take some time to reflect on the past year and look ahead to which God possibilities you want to pursue. For nearly a decade now, my wife, Rochelle, and I have taken the first week in January to mourn and celebrate the past year and look ahead to what is coming. Each year we discover that we enjoyed many tasks we thought we’d hate. We learned something new about the world, ourselves, and one another, and that, through it all, God took care of us.

I’m a goal-setter. I like to not only have goals for the year, but for the quarter, month, week, and day. It gives me life and clarity. I know not everyone functions that way. That’s fine. I’m a compulsive personality, so the clarity of an agenda helps me hold my darker angels at bay. As a mentor once told me, “unclaimed time flows toward our weakness.” With that in mind, I want to spend a few posts helping those who want it, find clarity around who they are becoming. Because I am a Christian pastor, you might not be surprised to hear me say that keeping your soul is your greatest priority. If you want to discover more about that, I suggest reading my friend, John Ortberg’s book, Soul Keeping. Add to that Dallas Willard’s teaching that “what God gets out of our lives is who we are becoming.” Your soul is likely more important than you think. “Souls” are not only about what happens to you after you die, but how you and I inhabit the world — how much kindness we introduce or how much pain we inflict.