What steps are you taking today to reach your goal for the future? It’s a question that a life coach friend of mine asks of her clients.

I think of her question sometimes. I actually love the life I have, but if I could tweak it just a little, I’d love it even more. I think many of us could say that. But most of us settle. Most of us get to a point of “good enough” and sit down.

Look around. Where we are sitting is a representation of all of our life choices to this point. Good or bad, they are responsible for where we find ourselves perched right now. 

Sometimes we want to blame others for our circumstances, and while they do influence our lives, we are sitting where we are sitting voluntarily. 

Think about it. We married who we married. We went to school or we didn’t. We accepted that job or we passed on it. We spoke up or we kept silent. We stepped in or we kept our distance. First one choice and then another, followed by another and dozens more. Our choices, every one. 

The next choice is ours, too. We want to tell ourselves, “I have no choice. I have to do this.” But the truth is, we always have a choice. Choices do have consequences, but we always have a choice.

  
When we make plans or have desires for what we want our lives to look like, smart cookies map that out. It’s like those maps at malls that say, “You Are Here”. You walk right up to that map, locate where you are in relation to where you want to be, and then it becomes clear what you need to do next to go find those cute shoes you came after. 

Has your life ended up where you had hoped? Is there something that needs a little tweaking or a lot of renovation? Map it out. Start with the “You Are Here” dot on your map, and go from there. 

I’m going to follow my own advice this time. I don’t want to be like Alice in Wonderland who said, “I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.” 

So often I am Alice. 

Many times, I know exactly what I ought to do, and yet I don’t. That kind of attitude gets me nowhere fast. 

It’s time to work on my map. In all honesty, I need to have a few maps in the works. I need a career map, a writing map, a keeping my house neater map, a “how am I going to get all these books I’ve bought read?” map. 

I can have a map for every goal I have for my life. All I have to do is take one step. One step today puts me that much closer tomorrow. 

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.  Psalm 139:16 

There is a plan for our lives. There are things for us to do that were decided before we ever took our first breath. Those things aren’t just going to do themselves. We’ve got to get moving. 

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9 

When we establish goals with the intent of honoring God with our lives as the chief aim, He will illumine our paths. The way will not be dark. The steps won’t be hard to find or to take. We are following, not leading, after all. It’s much easier to follow a path laid out than to make one. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us. Hebrews 12:1