“If I could do a tenth of what you do…” my dad told me in the car yesterday.
I couldn’t help but be confused. I don’t know what sparked the comment. We hadn’t been discussing busyness or schedules or goals or anything.
He clarified his thoughts (a little). “You’re so goal oriented. Almost to a fault. I just can’t imagine doing as much as you do.”
I still don’t know what brought on his observation, but he’s probably right.
I am a massively goal-oriented person. I figure out what I want to do and I find a way to get it done. My list of Life Goals is dozens of pages long (and I’ve only included some of my life goals online.) And though many of my goals are undone, incomplete, or in progress, I have managed to accomplish quite a deal in my first quarter century of life.
The difficulty enters in my dad’s second comment: “Almost to a fault.” He wasn’t meaning it as a criticism. He wasn’t putting me down. But I am aware that one of my greatest strengths is also one of my greatest weaknesses.
I am goal-oriented. It means that I get things done. I accomplish a lot. I have lived a life rich with experiences and accomplishments (even for someone only a quarter of a century old).
But sometimes my goals distract me from the greater purpose in life. The purpose that can’t be formulated as a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely (SMART) goal. The purpose of glorifying God. The purpose of walking in relationship with Him and others.
Too busy with my blog, I neglect the Word. I bow out of relationship because I’m too busy getting something done.
It’s a dangerous road, a fine line that I must learn to walk.
I believe that it is to God’s glory that I enjoy life. It is to His glory that I accomplish things. He is glorified when I use my goal-oriented personality.
But He is not glorified when I follow my goals rather than His Spirit. He is not glorified when I choose things over people. He is not glorified in my becoming internally focused.
I must learn, somehow, to use my temperament to glorify God–to be goal oriented, yes, but not to a fault. I may be goal-oriented, but above that I must be God-oriented.
That is the ultimate goal–but the one that is most difficult in its accomplishment.