Excitement of the New Year

Who needs resolutions when you set goals?

I'd say I know my husband pretty well. He is a very goal oriented individual. Example: one of his favourite books is titled GOALS! Capitalization and exclamation marks not even added by me-- which is something I normally do to add emphasis. When he makes goals, I often want to be involved in the process. I mean, I started reading the book GOALS! once before. I even made it... maybe... a quarter way through. I have set personal goals before but never concrete-well-thought-out-execution-plan, kind of goals. Just things I want to accomplish in a generalized time frame.

This year is different.
This year we have BIG GOALS! (Emphasis added by me to show how truly exciting it is.)

On New Years Day we ventured to the empty coffee shop to read and have some "shoulder to shoulder" time. This is not uncommon. It's actually something we do quite often when the coffee shop is closed for a holiday. The coffee shop is such a wonderful place to be. Big windows letting in incredible light, all the delicious tea I could drink, and comfy chairs that swallow you up while you get sucked into a good book. JP arrived before I did to do work. Upon my arrival, I started into my current read, Crazy Love by Francis Chan. An incredible book that I received from on my "Christmas List" that is challenging, encouraging, inspiring, and overall a book I was highly recommending even before I finished the first chapter. Before I knew it, JP had whipped out a page titled "S.M.A.R.T Goals for 2013". Goals. For 2013. That we are making together. My heart leaped for joy and I was SO EXCITED to be able to create some goals with the goal master himself, Jon Plett.

Upon assessing our upcoming year, we set goals in a variety of areas. We didn't only "write goals", we created our Purpose Statement for each area, wrote out our Envisioned Future, set Specific Commitments to help us reach our envisioned future and-- my favourite part-- found a supporting verse for each area.

Being able to keep ourselves God centered when creating goals is the most encouraging and amazing process. To consistently keep in mind what God has created us for when writing out our year gives me so much excitement. It lets you know that they aren't really "your" plans. They are His plans. His plans don't fail. His plans come to life. His plans are more amazing than you could ever imagine.

And that is how this year is shaping up to be.
Within in the next couple of weeks I will turn 25 years old and JP and I will celebrate our third marriage anniversary. This year we plan to move and pursue passions-- how helpful that we have goals to help us accomplish all that we would love to do.

While creating these Team Goals, I created my own personal goals with the same flow-- for consistency sake and because I absolutely love how in-depth the process was. To write out my envisioned future in my marriage, pursuit of a new career, my faith life, friendships, volunteering and humanitarian work, is so encouraging. God uses each and every one of us for things more amazing than we could ever think of. If you allow yourself to search out His reasoning behind why you were created, you will be able to envision a future you originally never thought possible. This time last year, I never would have envisioned my future including the things it currently does. Sure, some things stay the same-- you want to volunteer, have a solid faith life and marriage, pursue a career you are passionate about-- but to have specific commitments, scripture to support it... Wow. Awesome.

Welcome 2013. This is a year for big change, big dreams, big blessings, and big opportunities. My door is open to you, and I am warmly inviting you in.