Goals

If you know me at all, you know that I am a goal setter. It is not a big published list. It is more a personal evaluation and a place I can visit when I am at a loss or at odds with the world around me. I look at this list I have been working on.. in some case for years, and think, "Oh! that is where I need to be expending my resources".

So to spare you the minutia.. the big thing that I am hoping to do this year is COMPACTING. You might think compacting has to do with a kitchen appliace ... a trash compacter (which might be close), or compacting concrete, or even compacting Outlook messages. But there is a new definition in town... to read about it go here..

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact/

Basically it is a lifestyle change that can be motivated several things...
poverty or lack of money,
concern for the environment,
or to just take up a smaller space on this planet for the common good.

For me, I have money enough. But I am learning that because I am blessed with relative wealth, I have these impulses to self gratify. What I want, I buy. It is time to think of others. And stuff is not what fills me. Relationships do. I care about the environment and the amount of trash and how we live in this throwaway world where the cost of a new one is almost cheaper than spending time and energy fixine the old one.

The hardest part is thinking of my small space on this planet as temporary. What I have will become things that my children must divide out one day.. leaving the rest to Goodwill. But I wouldn't want any of them to believe that the essence of me lies in the crap left behind. I am so much more than my possessions and glad of it.

Our houses are big so we can have more stuff. The papers and things come into our house at such a rate that if we are not conscientious about getting rid of them at the same speed, we slowly start burying ourselves.

The stuff does not make me rich. Sleek cars are like handsome men. I don't have to own either to enjoy them. Appreciating from afar can be healthy and satisfying. Being blessed does not mean that I make my full time job making me happy.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.
DKU