When you wrote down your goals a few weeks ago, you probably felt that mix of excitement and hope—putting on paper what could be a future a little more aligned with what you truly desire.
But obviously, the magic of the season wasn’t enough to keep you motivated through the thousand small decisions that make up a habit change. Maybe by now, the enthusiasm you once felt has slowly turned into indifference, disappointment, and maybe even a little guilt. Why can’t you follow through? Why can’t you do what your heart truly wants to do?
Your goals for this year probably aren’t new ideas, but long-planted desires that drive you to live a healthier, more intentional, and relational life. They’re probably good things. What you wrote down was actually an expression of accumulated frustrations, dressed in good intentions and a spark of hope that made you believe this year could be different.
Novelty is a powerful element when it comes to life changes, but as with every deep and good transformation, it takes more than good intentions and newness. Having goals in life is an act of vulnerability because it exposes you to the truth that, most likely, you’ll get halfway through the year having failed to achieve what you set out to do.
Being intentional about the future is a brave act—because we cannot predict it, and there are no guarantees. Even if you do everything right and remain diligent with what’s within your control, you might still fail. It takes courage to expose yourself to a situation where you could feel like a failure. If you’ve realized by now that you won’t achieve what you hoped for, it’s important to face that failure directly. This could be a lesson from the good Teacher—to help you focus on the things you can always change and the things you truly have control over.
You can always change where you place your attention, and you always have control over how you steward your time and energy.
When we scroll through social media and see photos of drastic transformations, successful investments, physical makeovers, and improved relationships, we might think those people are somehow better than us. Maybe they were a bit more disciplined—or maybe God simply gave them more grace to accomplish what they wanted. But God doesn’t measure our lives by the comparisons we make. Nor does He measure them on an efficiency scale based on our goals.
Sometimes, the very excitement of writing down New Year’s resolutions distracts us from the grace we need to truly live and grow. The novelty of the moment empowers us, but any human empowerment that distracts us from God’s grace is nothing more than a breath of pride disguised as hope.
Nothing on your yearly agenda prevents you from starting today—even if the world hasn’t designated this date as one for new beginnings. But if you decide to write your goals again today, remember that the main goal is to love God and others.
If you realize that your goals are more about yourself—about filling an emptiness or trying to look better—then the frustration of not reaching them can become the fuel to turn your attention toward the God who never changes and is not bound by human calendars.
I hope you keep writing down your goals and that you’re able to achieve many of them. But we need to live intentionally and strengthen the areas of our lives that lead us to sin. At every moment, remember that God’s desire is to make you more like Christ—and any goal that takes you away from that purpose goes against the will of the God who loves you deeply. He deserves our attention, time, and energy. And maybe the best way to do that is by keeping the constant goal of remembering the Gospel, knowing God more, and honoring Him with every breath.