On Your Way to Where You Want to Be

Wednesday, June 27, 7:01 am

In order to effect lasting change, you need to define:

where you are now
where you want to be
how you plan to get there

Yesterday, we talked a bit about defining where you are and where you want to be. Today, I would like to talk to you about how to get there.

Again, I would like to emphasize that it’s nearly impossible to go forward until you evaluate where you are. In the same way, if you don’t know where you want to be, you may find yourself wandering aimlessly.

When you begin a cross-country journey, you need to know two points: your starting point and your destination.

Your life is a journey. You are born (your starting point) and you will die (should the Lord tarry). There is, of course, one caveat. You don’t know when the end of the journey is. However, when I am promoted to glory, I know that I want to be working hard on whatever it is that God has placed in my heart to do. If I’m not finished, I know that He has someone else to finish for me.

So, you have defined where you are and you’ve dreamed about where you’re going. You have spent time in your journal dreaming and in prayer seeking God. You have dreamed some big dreams. Now, how do you go about accomplishing those dreams?

First of all, you must define your dream. It must be specific. “I want to be a writer” is a great dream. However, you need to decide exactly what that means to you. A better goal might be, “I want to write Christian fiction.” This is specific enough for you to aim at.

Some of you are naturally disciplined. Some of you thrive on achieving goals and dreams. Some of you have no difficulty breaking down a goal into its component parts, putting a time limit on when you will achieve each aspect and then working until it’s done. (I envy you!)

I struggle with discipline. I continue to work on it, but it is something that is difficult for me. I used to try to make myself “just do it!” However, that didn’t work for me because I was railing against my natural bent. (It took me a l-o-n-g time to learn that.) I’m sanguine, and self-discipline isn’t one of my strong points. (For more information on personality types, please read Intentional Living! Vol 1, Num 2)

I finally discovered that one thing that helped me (and perhaps it will help you if you’re sanguine or phlegmatic) was to write down in great detail, what life would be like when I accomplished a certain dream. For example, if your dream were to write a book, write down how it will feel when your book is finished; write down how it will feel to have people tell you how much they liked your book; write down what bills you would pay off with the royalty checks (if that’s a part of your dream).

As you work toward that dream, you need to periodically stop, reevaluate, and redefine. Dreams can change over time. Hold your dreams loosely and don’t be afraid to allow a dream to slip away. Your priorities change. Life goes on. Your attitudes and situation will change. It’s okay to let go of a dream if it no longer fits. (I know that for some of you, that will be hard, but it can be incredibly liberating. You don’t have to finish everything you start.)
I would recommend having a DREAMS journal. Begin by journaling some of the questions that I posed yesterday. Let yourself dream big dreams. Put down EVERYTHING that comes to mind, no matter how impossible it seems at the time. Writing it down doesn’t commit you to accomplish it…now, or ever. You will have dreams that are for now and dreams that are for someday. You will have dreams that you think are important and over time, you’ll realize they weren’t for you. Sometimes, you’ll find that dreams you thought were your dreams are actually someone else’s dreams for you.

Once you have all those dreams out of your head and onto paper pray about where to begin. If you’re really goal-oriented, break your goals down into steps, put a time-limit and go for it. If you’re more of a free spirit, write down—in great detail—how it will feel to accomplish your dream and purpose to work on it regularly over time.

You will be amazed at the power of writing it down. In addition, make sure that you revisit your dream journal often.

I pray that this will help you to get On Your Way to Where You Want to Be.

God Bless You on Your Journey!