Sunday, August 11, 2002
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Sunday, August 11, 2002 |
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Never too late to set goals for personal growth By DR. DAVID L.
CHANCEY
Someone said, "Age is a state of mind." If age is a state of mind, then why does my back go out? Someone else said, "you're as young as you feel." Some days all we feel are our aches and pains, but, hey, don't dwell on it. How old are you? Joel Smith suggests an "age barometer" that helps us tell how old we are by tabulating how many changes we've lived through. Give yourself one point for each item you remember: Blackjack chewing gum. Wax, coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water. Candy cigarettes. Drink machines that dispensed from the top. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers. Party lines. Newsreels before the main movie. P. F. Flyers. Butch wax. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive 2-6933). Peahooters. Howdy Doody. 45 RPM records. S & H Greenstamps. Hi-Fi's. Metal ice trays with levers. Mimeograph paper. Blue flashbulbs. Officer Don. Roller Skate Keys. Cork Popguns. Drive-ins. Studebakers. The Atlanta Crackers. How many did you remember? Of 0-5, you're still young. If 6-10, you're getting older. If 11-15, don't tell your age. If 16-25, you're older than dirt! Wherever you fell, you are still young enough to learn and grow and enrich your life. It's never too late to set goals and to strive toward greater productivity. In his book, Success, Motivation and the Scriptures, William Cook includes a series of questions we can ask ourselves as we look to the future. Key questions include: Do all of my goals fit within the written, stated purpose of my life? Have I been honest enough to set goals in every area of my life (spiritual, recreational, professional, social, education, family and financial areas), believing that God is interested in the total me? Can my goals glorify God? Did I ask God for wisdom and guidance? Would Jesus Christ be willing to be Lord of my life and preside over the reaching of these goals? And of course, at whatever stage we find ourselves, we should "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5, 6).
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