Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Jesus also says something along these lines. He says: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28, ESV)
The point is that you need to know where you are going to get where you are going. But it is amazing how many of us don’t know where we are going. We are drifting. We allow the urgent requests of the day to dictate where we go.
As you drive down the interstate highway there are dozens of billboards that call for your attention. Most of the time you ignore them and drive past. But what if you stopped at each sign and heeded to its demands? There is a sign for a fast food restaurant at the next exit. So you make sure to stop and order your extra value meal. The next sign calls for you to buy a new pair of shoes. So you stop and pull over to the side of the road and place the order on your phone. If you did this you would not get far. You would quickly run out of money and would forget your destination. It would be hard to establish any sort of progress.
Knowing your destination gives you a filter. It helps you to chose where you stop and what you buy. It gives you the ability to distinguish between what is a distraction and what is a necessity. Knowing your destination helps you get to where you are going.
Every day we have demands placed upon our attention. There are emails, text messages, phone calls, office memos, and more. We are flooded with marketing designed to influence our choices. We have people in our lives that make requests of us. When we engage these attention grabbers, they take our energy, time, and resources. They easily dictate our todo list and how we spend our time. We end up spending our lives responding to email and whims of others. We never get anywhere.
What is the guiding force in your life? Do you make decisions based on your destination? Or do you make decisions based upon what captures your attention at the moment? It is so easy to go from one thing to the next thing without ever going anywhere.
Begin with the end in mind. If you are a believer, your ultimate destination is an eternity with the Lord. That is where you are going. There is much in this world that will distract you from that. It is too easy to end up pursuing lesser pursuits. But when you know that the Lord is your destination, you will make decisions to bring yourself closer to the Lord every day.
Reflection
- How do you get distracted from your destination?
- Do you know your destination?
- How do you discover your destination?
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