Goal setting is something that many of us associate with the start of a new year. Well, here we are halfway through this year, talking about goals and goal setting. The halfway point of the year is a great time to reevaluate your goals, reflect on if you’ve held yourself accountable, and take a look at the progress you’ve made. We have goals for weight loss, finances, our careers, and so on. But what about spiritual goals? Are these included in our yearly list?
Let’s break down why these are important and how to begin making your goals!
As humans, we have an innate desire to continue to grow and learn in various aspects of our lives. When we nurture different parts of us, we excel and improve in those areas. Say one wants to improve their cholesterol or kick a sugar habit. They’d begin to make different choices in their food and in a few months likely see health improve. A person wants to purchase their first home. A goal may be to budget in order to begin to save money or improve a credit score. Soon they’ll be signing their first contract. Or even if a person wants to be more in-tune with their emotions, perhaps they’ll seek a therapist and begin journaling more. Their relationship with themselves and others will likely benefit over time.
Now considering this with our spirituality, why would we want to stay stagnant? When we grow spiritually, we become closer to God, more self-aware, stand stronger in His word, are more willing and able to bless others, live a more joyous life. As with any area of our life, we must work at improving to see results. Goal setting is a great way to get started.
Start with reflecting on where you are in your current walk with Christ and how you’d like to see that change. How do you want to grow in Christ this season? What does that look like for you? What can I do to get there? It will look different for each person. Goals can be tangible or intangible.
Perhaps you want to know more about what His word says. Set a goal to read your bible 10 minutes a day or join a Bible study. Perhaps you want to be more impeccable with your words and minister grace- set a goal to give 2 compliments a day to strangers. They can be anything you feel you want to work on.
Something we want to caution is not to focus so much on the end result. Goals are used to motivate and guide us. But falling short of a goal isn’t the end of the world if we know we are working in the right direction.
Setting goals helps us improve areas in our life and including our spiritual life which can benefit us greatly. We encourage you to take time today to write down 1 to 2 spiritual goals for the remainder of this year. Putting them in a place you'll see them everyday can be motivating as well. Feel free to share them with us in the comments