As I have grown older I have become increasingly invested in New Years Goals. From year to year my format for this looks different. Sometimes I have picked 12 specific goals and divided them up 1 per month. Sometimes I have picked specific categories. While 2024 played out dramatically differently than I ever could have foreseen, I am really grateful to see how many of my goals I still accomplished, either in full or in part.

Entering this year I have selected a few goals. I have 1 main goal for the year, and then a sprinkling of things I hope to see completed by the end of the year.

I think goals are important. The older I get the more I realize life will happen whether or not you are actively involved in it. I don’t want to wake up one day in the future and the reason I didn’t accomplish certain things was because I didn’t pursue them.

Who do you want to be?

Are you content with being exactly the way you are for the rest of your life?

When we really reflect, I think many of us have at least one area of life where we want something more or different. I didn’t used to like myself. I had become a sort of chameleon for the people around me, so badly that I didn’t really know who I even was anymore. If you are living to please others then you aren’t really the one living your life. Sometimes it takes a push or a wake up call to face that reality.

Goals should not be a source of punishment for ourselves, they should be a source of determination. Pick goals that you actively want. Set goals that are manageable so that you can watch yourself succeed. Don’t shame yourself for goals that you can’t or don’t hit. Have grace for the reality that life still happens.

Goals should give us a sense of focus. Goals do not mean we have control over our life.

In 2024 one of my physical goals was to finally be able to do a pull-up. For as much time as I spend in the gym, this is something I still fail at. Mentally I was very determined to hit this goal.

However, in 2024 the cycle of recovering from surgery, having 2 more surgeries that I needed to also recover from, and months of debilitating pain in between meant the year ended and I still fail to do a pull-up.

I don’t view 2024 as me failing. I have left 2024 stronger than any other year of my life, and not physically. What the Lord had for me to walk through in 2024 was not what I could have predicted. I truly felt as though I walked through the fire this year. The fact that I have ended the year the person I am now is a source of celebration for me, even if I can’t yet do a pull-up.

Goals shouldn’t be idols. Goals should be opportunities for us to be faithful. We are only given a limited time on this earth. We won’t accomplish much when we aren’t focused on what we feel called to do.

Set your goals. Get ready for the year. Remember we don’t have control over what is to come, only how we chose to respond.