Field[s] Goal

Recently I read about one of my friends accomplishing Goal #49 on her list.  I knew her blog was kind of geared toward having goals, but I didn't realize she had an official list, so out of curiosity I checked The Goals list out.  Pretty fun.  Pretty inspiring.  Reminds me of the character Jamie's To-Do List in the movie A Walk to Remember [watch here].  I may start an official Field[s] Goal list on here.  I mean, getting to do a play on words with our family name is enough of an incentive!

Based on the list of goals I started for 2012, I guess our family going to the park on Saturday would count as accomplishing Goal #3: Get the girls outside once a day... at least for that one day.  And you know, sometimes to accomplish goals, you need to amend them so that they're doable.  Baby steps, right?  So we decided that we'd try to make it our goal that on Sundays we would pack a lunch and take the girls to the park after church.  It's kind of like our dating goal; we're going to try to at least plan it for once a month.  "If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones [Luke 16:10]."

Now, I gotta take a moment to be honest here.  These fun, happy family snapshots... they don't tell the whole story.  The "rest of the story" is what I usually like to leave out when I write.  When I come on here to post, I like to point out the positive in my life.  Even when I decide to be a bit transparent on here about what's heavy on my heart, I like to end things with some light at the end of the tunnel.  But you know what, sometimes being honest about real life gives others hope when they realize that they're not alone in their struggles.  So yes, we had fun at the park feeding the ducks and playing on the playground but behind-the-scenes were two-year-old tantrums, a fussy baby, a couple of stressed parents and a mommy melt down.  I actually had two melt downs this weekend which reminded me of a parenting quote I had just read:

"... you've got to stay connected to the Lord if you're going to have His strength, His grace, His joy, to serve your family.  If you neglect your relationship with Him, then your love for your children will wane because Christ is the source of love.  If you're not letting Him fill you with His love, then you're going to come to a place where your love runs out."

[Parenting With Purpose with Nancy Leigh DeMoss] 

So here's to Goal #15: Read through the Bible in 4 months.  I know this may seem to go against what I said at the beginning about setting small goals, but I did a Bible reading plan like this about 7 years ago and it was so beneficial to my devotional life!  With my husband starting his last semester of school tomorrow, that'll earn him a BA in English Literature, I was motivated to customize a Bible reading plan that would start tomorrow and end on Gregg's graduation day in May.

"To intentionally cultivate discipline in your life, you must have goals. Not just dreams, not just lofty ambitions, but specific, realistic, achievable goals. If you don’t know where you’re aiming, you’ll lack direction and purpose."

[21 Days to a More Disciplined Life: Discipline Requires Goal-Setting]