Most people don’t take the time to plan their lives, so it’s no surprise that so many people get to the end of their lives and experience regrets. They realize, often too late, they should have paid more attention to their goals, their dreams, taken more (smart) risks, spent more time investing in relationships and much less time focusing on their failures and tragedies.
Here’s an important fact: we only get one life to live; one story to tell, and if we don’t plan it well, we’re much more likely to waste this precious gift called life.
No matter what you’ve done in the past, your focus needs to be on the present and your future. Your family needs you. Your friends need you. Your coworkers need you. Your church needs you. You are needed.
Author Donald Miller says in his Create Your Life Plan course, “If we constantly worry about accumulating money so we can buy things from Bed Bath & Beyond, we’re teaching the people around us what’s worth worrying about, what’s worth working for, and what we believe life is really about. Our children are literally learning from us what matters in life. And if we’re living in reaction to the world around us rather than grabbing the wheel, we can only expect them to do the same thing. “
The E+R+O formula I talked about last week fits perfectly into life planning. When you choose to respond to the world versus reacting, your children will remember. You friends will remember. Your co-workers will remember.
Why Does Meaning Matter?
Miller also says, “Without a sense of meaning in life, we distract ourselves with pleasure. Find me an addict and I’ll find somebody who doesn’t have a sense of meaning. Find me an employee who isn’t productive and I’ll show you somebody who doesn’t think life is meaningful. Find me a father neglecting his children and I’ll show you somebody who is likely trying to find meaning in a pursuit they will soon find empty.”
We’re all guilty of seeking significance from things that will only leave us empty. But we can’t focus on letting our pasts beat us up. We must focus on allowing our pasts to lead us into a better future – a better life.
We must stop letting our regrets define us and let THE truth define us. The truth about who God says we are. The truth that we are so valuable to a loving, compassionate, merciful God.
Your life will get crazy. There’s no way around it. People will never stop having expectations of you. Your job requires you to be there at a certain time. Your kids need you. Your landlord wants the rent paid on time. When things start to get crazy, your life plan can serve as a map to tell you where you are and how you can get back on the path to your desired destination – the destination God has designed for you.
[ctt template=”3″ link=”WD5be” via=”yes” ]We must stop letting our regrets define us and let THE truth define us. [/ctt]
I don’t know about you, but I suck at directions. When I ask you where I need to go, please…. for the love of all things chocolate, don’t tell me I need to go East to get to the North side of the city, then follow that for 12 miles. I. have. no. sense. of. direction. Tell me what roads to turn on. Tell me if there’s a house on the left or the right. Better yet, just give me the address so I can put it in my phone. Siri usually gets me where I need to go. As I enter the address, though, I have a destination in mind. I know where I’m headed. I know where I want to be when I get there. I have a plan.
The same goes for our lives. We need to have a destination in mind. Where do we want to be when we get to the end of our lives? Who do we want to be? How do we want to be remembered? Where are you headed?