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“In 20 years, I want to be…”

It was 6th grade graduation night. We had been preparing for weeks for this big event. At our school, it was a big deal. This was the end of elementary school, and we were now headed to junior high. Which, in reality, at our small school, was also with the high school. It was just on the other side of the gym.

We had worked on our graduation theme song, chosen “We Are the Champions,” and figured out what our program would look like.

But to us, the most important part of the evening was giving our speech. Our prompt was, “In 20 years, I’ll be…” and then we shared a picture of what we hoped our future would look like.

Immediately, I knew what I would say.

“In 20 years, I’ll be married, with 2 and a half kids (not sure what that meant, but I guess it was kind of a cool thing to say as a 6th grader), and I’ll play saxophone for Michael Bolton.”

Yup. That’s what I was going to do. This was my dream. I know what you’re thinking—wow! What a goal!

But when it came time to share my speech, I changed it. I was afraid others would think it was dumb, so I went with something safer. As I stepped up to the microphone, I said, “In 20 years, I’ll be married, with 2 and a half kids, and I’ll be the first woman in the NBA.”

Obviously, I’m not a WNBA player, nor do I even still know how to play the saxophone (not that I ever learned how to read music 😣).

My life looks far different than a 6th grader could have imagined. My goals aren’t the same because my focus shifted.

To something even greater than basketball or Michael Bolton.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 says:

“Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

THIS should be our goal: to glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How?

With our lives!

The things we do, the words we say, the way we spend our money, the way we spend our time—all of it should point people to Christ.

But not for our glory. For His!

That we would become more like Jesus every day, so much that we reflect Him to the world. That when someone encounters us, they are seeing an example of Christ.

To walk worthy of His calling.

This is our life’s purpose. This should be our goal: to live a life that glorifies God.

In 20 years, I’ll still be praying for God to work on me and make me more like Him. Not for my benefit alone, but so that others can come to know Him through me.

How God chooses to use me to do that, well, I’ll leave that plan up to Him.

I’m grateful that today He uses this blog to reach around the world. That He has placed me at Lifeword, a global ministry that seeks to make the name of Jesus known to every tribe, tongue, and nation through media. And that He has allowed our business to be built on our faith in Him and share it with every family we meet.

What do your goals look like? Are they self-focused or Christ-focused?

I have to reevaluate mine daily.

Do you?

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