God as Goal

I was challenged last night by the fact that in my proposed 2014 goals, I seem to have left God out.

This bothered me when I sat down and thought about it for a bit.  Here I am, someone who is proclaiming that I am a Christian and that God is central to my life - yet my goals concerning Him are always mushy and ill-defined at best.  That struck me as odd, because the rest of the goals in my life for any given year are much more solid and well defined - and, if I were honest, looked forward to with more anticipation.

It is a repeat offense for the problem that I have had in my daily life, trying to fit everything in and then trying to place God in the cracks and crevices on the side in other words where He fits, not where He should fit.  I like to pretend that I am doing otherwise, but the ugly truth is not that God is first but that He is more often the thing that I have good intentions about but seldom move forward with.

This needs to change - not only for myself and for the example that I need to provide to my family but to a world where increasingly Christianity is known more by the stereotypes and bad information than by the actual example of knowing a Christian.

How to implement this?  I realized as I sat last night that I start by making God one of many goals.  What would happen if I reversed this process, if I started from making God the first goal and then worked my way backward from there.  What might this look like?  How do I fit God in
 - in private worship?
 - in public worship?
 - in daily prayer?
 - in service at my church?
 - in service to my community?

In answering the questions and then implementing them, I would begin to make God first in my life.

And the other things?  This is the difficult part for me.  It would become the process I had previously practiced with God:  putting things into the cracks.  Looking at the things that were previously on the list and admitting that some of them were not going to be accomplished - and being okay with that.

The entire process is a reverse to my typical way of thinking about goals and something that I am struggling my way through.  But in considering it I am left with a question, a question that has been at the back of my mind for four years (since we moved):  am I growing in my faith or failing in it?   And if I am failing in it, what practical steps am I willing to take to reverse that situation?