Personal Goals

Ok, so I have been thinking a lot about goals lately. It must be inspired by the move. I am trying to plan what my new life in South Carolina will look like, or something. So with a new life comes some changes to my list of goals, at least the short term ones.
I don't remember which Monthly Moms Gathering featured a speaker who encouraged every mom to set short term and long term goals, but it was way inspirational to me at the time. For as often as I've quoted the scripture, "where there is no vision, the people perish", I for most of my life have never had any concrete goals. Perhaps this is because I am secretly terrified of not achieving the goals and therefore tasting failure.
Yet over the years I've learned that it isn't about making goals and then achieving them that matters, but the whole process. Figuring out what is important to you, and then as your life gets jumbled up with a whole bunch of 'stuff', being able to go back and look at the list of goals. I can weigh the 'stuff' against the goals and get rid of what doesn't fit. It helps me de-clutter my schedule, it also helps me to re-sign up in the areas that I have been slacking off in. Reading my goal sheet is always very inspiring and gets me all excited to reach for them again.
So as I've had a few new goals pop into my head in recent days, I've gone in search of that goals sheet from my last year, and couldn't find it. Guess that means it's time for a new one. I've been working from scratch, using my 'mothering mission statement' as a starting point. Then I ask myself what I would like to be doing well in six months to a year (short term) or two to six years from now (long term) and then I re-evaluate my life goals to make sure they are still in their proper place (self explanatory i think). I also look at my schedule as I make these goals to see what is realistic to try and squeeze in.
I won't list all my goals on here, I just wanted to tell you other moms out there about the importance of setting goals and encourage you to do the same (if you are not already). For those of you who don't have a grid of what I'm talking about for short-term and long-term goals, here are a few examples from my lists.
Short-term (6 mo to 1 year time-frame):

•    fast one day a week (while I'm not pregnant or nursing)
•    read thru the New Testament every 30 days
•    maintain a fresh smell in my bathrooms (this equals a cleaning goal)
•    restrict kids movies to 2/ week (made this one after a long winter in which I used movies to cope)

Long-term (2 to 6 years)

• home school my children
• eat mostly raw
• keep a large garden and can/preserve most of my own food
• be debt free

Then there are other life-goals, like: maintain my intimacy with the Lord, raise children who fear the Lord and that each would have a passionate personal relationships with Christ, honor my husband with all my words and deeds, etc.

That is just a taste of some of my goals. They don't all have to be domestic, and they don't all have to be spiritual. Another example from my short term list is that I hope to do crunches to work off some of my baby chub and rediscover my six pack. Not super spiritual right? but a goal none the less.

So Happy Goal Planning to you! Be creative, and be honest with what actually matters to you. Don't try to make goals because you see other people making similar ones, make ones that are realistic and personal to you in your season of life.

It is hard, however to work on my six pack, when I keep coming home from Target with a six pack............ ........................of these.

What can I say, I'm a work in progress.