Okay, so mostly this year I went with the “one word for the year” effort. My friend Beth Vogt first encouraged me to think of one word for the year, and I’ve seen the idea making the rounds on the blogosphere this week.

I picked a word: Love. Explanation here. And I’m excited to focus in on loving God and others in a bigger way in 2012.

But I still made a few resolutions—goals really. Goals work for me. They give me something to shoot for. Sure, I may miss the target now and then, but pulling the trigger still feels good. (Yeah, probably shouldn’t give me a gun.)

Here’s the thing, though: It’s only January 6 and I’m already wavering. That goal not to drink so much pop? Umm, the Diet Coke with Lime is whispering to me from the fridge. Okay, shouting. The goal to focus during my writing time, free of distractions? It’d be a lot easier if Facebook and my favorite author’s newest book and that speck on the carpet weren’t so interesting.

Sometimes it’s just hard to do the things we need to do, yeah? [insert pouty face]

That’s not only the truth, but it’s something we see all over the Bible. Moses didn’t seem entirely thrilled to go back to Egypt and confront Pharoah. Jonah flat out said no at first and look what that got him—an exploration of a big fish’s digestive system. Aaron got seriously off-track with the golden calf thing. Things were going okay for Esther before Mordecai asked her to appear before the king, to which I’m pretty sure her initial response was something like, “Are you kidding me?” Peter denied Christ. John was a bit slow in understanding Christ’s “Feed my lambs.”

And Paul…you just have to love Paul. He, perhaps more than anyone, was amazingly honest about his shortcomings along the road to fulfilling his calling: For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ~Romans 7:15

Is it wrong that I feel slightly comforted by Biblical heroes’ and heroines’ slip-ups?

Ollie doing his back exercises.

Yeah, goals—especially the big ones, the ones we know God put on our heart—they’re not often easy to reach. Especially when the road stretches, all windy and pothole-y, and distractions trip us up.

Well, this past weekend I spent time down in Wichita with my family—which included little Ollie. Oh, love. Because of Ollie’s health difficulties, it’s taking him some time to develop back strength. So each day my sister and brother-in-law, at the advice of medical professionals, work on a series of exercises with Ollie.

Watching Ollie do his ball exercises was a blast. He’s. So. Cute!

And as I watched him, I absolutely sensed an object lesson coming on. See, Ollie’s exercising efforts aren’t all that different than my goals. The first couple times he pulled himself up, it almost appeared easy. But as the exercises continued, I could tell he was getting tired. Or distracted by my siblings playing the Wii. Or more interested in the cameras pointed his way. 🙂

But: every single time, Ollie eventually pulled himself up. With my sister’s patient voice spurring him on, he completed each exercise. Some easily and quickly, some with more time and effort. But tiredness, distraction, they never kept him from the goal. He pressed on.

I want to be like Ollie. 

With one week down in 2012, I’m deciding right now to keeping pressing on Philippians 3:14-style. 

How about you? Do you have any goals for the year? What helps you press on?

p.s. Check out this adorable video of Ollie playing with Amy post-exercising. 🙂

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•