After many years of making calendar year resolutions (or in some years resolving not to make these annual goals), this past year I opted for goals based on the church year rather than the calendar year. This means that my 2017 goals actually started in November of 2016 and end this week.
My Goals
As I first shared a year ago, my goals follow:
- Join (and be actively involved in) a local community of faith
- Labor to make real on earth God’s realm of justice and peace
- Write about matters of faith that matter (primarily here on this blog)
- Teach (and continue learning) about Christianity and the world’s many great religions
- Discern an answer (or many answers!) to the question “What next?”
My Results
Since a year is a rather long time, I chose to share updates on my journey in March and again in August. Now, I am ready to report on the final results.
Since I spent this year in school completing my MBA at Texas Woman’s University and teaching religion at Hodges University, I will use grades as a simple way to share my self-evaluation. And, since prior updates included more detailed data this offering will be more of a high level summary.
- B. I am thankful for the faith communities I formally belong to as well as the many others I have visited throughout the year. A variety of opportunities for preaching as well as first time visitor observations and consultative services meant that I did not have as many weekends to be physically present in the congregations where I am a member.
- A-. This is as much about who I am as it is about how I live. I strive to be a change agent who not only sees a better, more peaceful and more just future but also labors tirelessly to help enact it. I stepped out in faith several times this year in ways designed to center and/or re-center myself around this purpose.
- B+. Somehow I managed to write at least one post a week throughout the year. The work load of my academic endeavors and a job change for my primary professional pursuit meant that I had less time to dedicate to this endeavor than I have in prior years.
- A. I am blessed to have an ever widening group of people from whom I am learning. And, once again I have had many opportunities to teach and more informally share some of what I know.
- A-. Change has been a central theme of the year, and has been especially important in the second half of the year. I have not only made but had affirmed several answers to what next both personally and professionally. I am excited to start living into some of these new roles and to more fully explore future possibilities.
So What?
Goal setting is hard, but is time well spent when accompanied by follow through. I am so glad that faith is a journey rather than a destination, and that the steps along the way involve questions at least and often more than answers.
In the last few weeks I have set professional goals for 2018. I am now working on broader personal goals for the year ahead. And, since I’m planning on reverting back to the calendar year my deadline is still a month away.
- How are you doing on any goals or resolutions you established for yourself when the year began?
- Share some wisdom that may help me and others as we start the goal setting process for next year.