Dream-Hope-Plan-Goal

Our lives are full of dreams, hope, plans, and sometimes goals.  Mine was no different.  Throughout the years I had plenty of dreams, hopes, and plans...and many of them just went down the tubes.  They vanished, and were unfulfilled.  That's how it goes in real life.  I didn't have very many goals at all.  Many folks don't.  Goals require more work, and a stronger mindset to reach them. 

Dreams and hope are almost synonymous in that they are basically but mental exercises.  We dream about things and hope they will come about.  We don't put a lot of work into our dreams because often there is an inner sense that tells us a dream is but a pleasant thought about an outcome and we already know that life can deal with us in such a way that it would never be reached.  Hope, like dreams, is likewise a mental "feel good" manipulation we do on ourselves.  Both focus on results we would like to see, but with the tacit implication that we might never see them come to fruition.

Plans are what we make to act as a road map for what we do.  We apply a plan to a dream or hope in order to engineer the result of that dream or hope into reality, but it is not uncommon for the plan to become derailed by unforeseen circumstances. And, face it, some dreams and hopes are just out of our wheelhouse.

How does all of this apply to everyday life?  Below are a couple of examples from my own life experience:

• as a young man I had dreams and hopes of raising the all American family
• that went awry because I was more important to myself than those around me and purposely leading a life that was far from that which God had intended me to
• I had dreams and hopes of becoming financially secure and being able to retire with a strong sense of security
• that went awry for the same reasons stated above
• I pursued the dream, and therefore hoped, that I would become a commercial pilot.
• that went awry when, because of my eyes, I would be forever unable to pass the FAA medical process for any license.

Some of you might say that had I made it my goal (instead of just dreaming about it) to raise the all American family, and another goal to be financially secure at retirement, those dreams might have been fulfilled.  That is a possibility.  But, goals take a lot of work.  They have to be planned, and then we have to work at that plan and follow that plan.  As you can see from the above examples, the very reasons those dreams and hopes went awry were the same reasons that would have prevented any plans from being developed and implemented.  At the time, I simply wasn't wired to make plans and stick to them...something that affects many of us.

Through the passage of time, and a difficult learning curve, I have come to the conclusion that there is really only one goal I need to plan for.  That's right....one.  My goal is to reach heaven now that all of my dark days are hopefully behind me (and they will be if I continue to work the plan to reach my goal).  And the goal is obtainable because the plan is simple.  The plan is to continue to get to know Christ.  Bottom line, isn't that the only real goal we should all have?

Life is a learning experience I believe.  We can all learn from our mistakes, our missed dreams and hopes, and our blown plans and goals.  And through that learning process we can all learn about the one goal that really matters to us, heaven, and put the plan in process to get there.