The Legacy of Goals

January often symbolizes a blank canvas of opportunity, new resolutions and fresh beginnings. It’s packaged in personal planning and development, focusing on achievements for the upcoming year. There’s a lot of hype around January—lots of goals eagerly made, and eagerly begun.

But what is the legacy of the goals you make?

Goals are great, and New Years Resolutions aren’t bad. But when the new year starts with a funeral, it frames everything in a completely different light.

Yesterday, a family—close friends of my family—perished in a tragic crash, leaving no survivors. Husband, wife, son. Gone. Everything they worked for, lived for, now has to be sorted through and sold, their personal belongings pawned for a purchase. In an instant, their lives were wiped away with nothing but ashes and items that remain.

Who do you work for if there’s no one to leave it to? What kind of legacy do you leave that will last eternity?

Fitness goals, business goals, personal goals…they’re not bad, and I’m not saying they should be neglected. Nevertheless, in your pursuit of plans I purpose you ask yourself these hard questions. If you were gone—your entire family gone—who would remember you, why would they remember you, and what things of worth will you leave behind?

Your jean size won’t matter.

Your Pinterest home won’t matter.

The figure on your check won’t matter.

The argument you had last week won’t matter.

We all survived 2020, which in some ways was nothing less than a miracle. We all know the fragility of life, watching loved ones suffer through the virus and friends who are gone. Facing our mortality should change the way we approach 2021. We’ve seen the darkness, and we know the immeasurable worth of the Light.

Build your goals on the things that will matter, friend. Things that will last eternity.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” —Matthew 6:19-21