‘It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about
with drink and sex and ambition
when infinite joy is offered us,
like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum
because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased.’
CS Lewis
I’m a very visual person. Anyone else with me? Recently, I’ve been trying to visualize my future- 1 year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now. I’ve been trying to visualize what I want my life to look like. I don’t want to give a basic answer- with kids, in NYC, serving, etc. I want to know the details. What will I be doing for work? How will I be serving? How will I be spending my time?
For the past few weeks I’ve had this nagging feeling inside of me. Conceptually, I know what I want for my future, but the question still stands- what do I need to start doing today to actually get there? My dad always taught me to visualize my goal and to start with the end in mind. Know where you want to go then work backwards to figure out the details.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Donald Miller‘s book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” I yearn to be part of a good story, for my life to read like a good story- even if I am the only one who will read it. Bob Goff is one of my favorite authors and his life reads like a good story. He lives a life full of love, full of whimsy. So this week I started a vision board inspired by these two books and my goals for the future. I’m still dreaming and still praying for the Lord to give me some direction. If I am being honest, I really don’t know what I want my life to look like in 5 or 10 years. I know basics and have multiple ideas, but for once I really don’t know the what I want.
What I do know is that I want my life to be filled with more than just things and memories. I want to leave a legacy and make an impact in the world. I love the quote above by C.S. Lewis. I don’t want to pursue weak desires, I want to pursue deep desires- desires so wild that they could only come true by the grace of His hand.
What are some of your goals- 5 years from now, 10 years from now?
What are you doing today to get there?
p.s. I just finished another book called Tape Breakers which also inspired my desire to make a positive impact. It will be released on Amazon on March 1- so if you pre-order the book, you can be one of the first to read it! Trust me, you NEED to pre-order this book! You don’t want to miss out- it’s that good. I’ll be sharing more about the book soon!
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Love this! What a great idea. I just preordered the book! it looks great. 10 years from now i hope to be out of debt (other than if I buy a home) & living in great community. guess i need to start looking into my details too
That is such an incredible goal! Do you follow Dave Ramsey? We did Financial Peace University before getting married and absolutely love it. We also budget every dollar and keep up with our spending in an excel sheet to help save. :) Also, you are going to LOVE Tape Breaker. Seriously. Excited for you! xox
I can so relate to them! So often, I make decisions based on the answer to this question: How will this affect the “story” of my life? Is this something I’ll look back and be proud of, or regret doing/not doing? I find that it really helps keep me focused!
Love that!!! Such a fantastic idea and question to ask yourself. Totally borrowing this :)
Chloe, your content is always interesting and thoughtful. Thanks for your kind words about Tape Breakers!
Ooo I love the image that our desires are too weak, and that there is so much more than we are asking for or imagining. Thank you for this reminder!
And how exciting that you are thinking of coming to Montreal! (I just switched to Disqus on my blog today, which got rid of all of the old comments…). I just moved here, so I don’t really know the best time to come. But definitely shoot me an email when you’re here if you want to grab a tea somewhere :)