Five Years From Now

Peace family, where do you see yourself in five years?

I recently was having dinner with a friend who asked me that question, and it really put things into perspective. It forced me to look at my life, and look at the ways that I am or am not doing what I hope to do with it. I thought about my age, and when I thought about how I did not want my life to look five years from now, I realized that I have not been putting almost any effort into doing what I need to, in order for my life to look different.

While our first answer to this question should always be for us to grow closer to God, we don’t always focus on him or on the other important things in our lives. Are you investing in your relationship with Christ and continuing to grow and surrender your struggles and dreams to him? (For example, I’m always wishing I would regularly memorize more scripture, but I don’t follow through with the discipline to do it.) Are you setting aside time and energy to invest in your marriage and improve it, even if you don’t have any problems right now? Are you investing time and heart into your relationships with your children, or do “more important” things seem to always come up? Are you wanting to get into better physical or emotional shape, but you’ve avoided starting the work outs or scheduling a meeting with a counselor? Are you hoping to start a business or try something new that you have been too comfortable, afraid, or distracted to try? The list of things we highly value but sometimes don’t make time for, goes on and on.

Peace family, today is as good of a day as any to start working towards your goal. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how stuck you feel. Are you doing anything today, or making any plans that will help you to succeed in reaching where you want to be five years from now? You can do it! We might not succeed at everything, but we will certainly never reach our goals if we fail to try.

What are some practical steps that you can take today in order to try things you’d like to try, but might be too scared to do? Who is a faithful friend that you can share a goal with, who will help you start working towards it? No one else can succeed for us, or make us do the things that we feel called to do. Especially if there is something in your life that you feel God has called you to do, let’s honor God by stepping out in faith, staying humble and obedient to him, and learning as we go. I’m taking steps today to meet some goals, and my roommate is joining me. Let’s do it together, Peace family!