On goals

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

- Diana Scharf Hunt

Short, cute, chubby

What's not to love about the platypus, a fur covered, egg laying, otter-tailed mammal, with a duckbill, webbed feet, and the ability to sense electric impulses? Short, cute, chubby...a trio of characteristics that I adore. Proof that God indeed has a sense of humor.

Overcoming the paralysis of analysis

M.J. Ryan offers breakthrough insights into the process of change in "This Year I Will…" She notes that most of us get stuck in the whys of change, by asking such questions as: Why haven't I been able to do this? Why do I procrastinate? Why don’t I pursue my dream? Asking why actually keeps us from the change we want, notes Ryan, because it engages our left brain, which is designed for data collection, not problem solving.

To stimulate creative thinking, Ryan suggests that we switch to what questions: What do I need to do now? What is my next step? What would make this goal possible? This engages our right brain, which is energized by newness and loves to produce novel possibilities. Our right brain is ready and willing to help.

If you want to change a habit, keep a resolution, or make a dream come true, this is the book to read!

Perspective

It helps, now and then, to step back and
take a long view.
The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
That is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing
that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further
development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond
our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a
sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do
it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the
Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that it
the difference between the master builder and
the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers,
not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Archbishop Oscar A. Romero

Imagine...

being loved because of your wrinkles

losing your habitat due to an earthquake