Begin 2023 With The End In Mind
Photo by John Brundage
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“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Matthew 6:21
I used to hate year end celebrations. And as an introvert, they’re still not my favorite thing in the world. But my time working in campus ministry helped me see how beautiful and important they are. Our training drove this point home with a quote from James Kouzes: “[Celebrations] are the punctuation marks that make sense of the passage of time; without them, there are no beginnings and endings. Life becomes an endless series of Wednesdays.”
Kouzes’ image left a major impression on me. How easy it is for the days to blend together! If we aren’t careful, years can slip by. Years full of missed opportunities, neglected relationships, lost potential. In spite of my natural inclination against end of the year celebrations, New Years has become one of my favorite holidays because it’s a free and socially recognized opportunity to come up for air. On New Years we can step out of the Wednesdays to take stock, and chart a new course.
The most important part of charting a new course is knowing the destination. Trevor and I share a love for the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. One of the most valuable insights of this book is that when we undertake a task, we ought to begin with the end in mind. Effective people know what they want, and decide what to do by working backwards from what they want.
I don’t know about you, but for me I find that all too often I’m not working backwards from what I truly want for my life. Instead I semi consciously react to my impressions about what will bring me comfort or instant gratification. When I notice that hours have slipped away on YouTube, or that I’ve done something I know is wrong, I realize that what I think I wanted and what I actually wanted are two very different things. The fromer can smother the latter, and it can enslave us if we aren’t careful.
When it comes to having the end in mind, Covey encourages us to think big. Rather than considering what you want for a year, or for a project, Covey has you imagine what you’d want people to say about you at your funeral. Knowing what you want to define your life can powerfully clarify what you chose on a day to day basis.
But we shouldn’t take what we want at face value. Covey encourages us to not spend our entire lives climbing the ladder only to find out that it’s leaning up against the wrong tree. Although 7 Habits is a secular book, it asks deeply spiritual questions. In another post I encouraged you to ask “where do I get my sense of identity, security, and self esteem?” This is the tree your ladder is against.
Today, I encourage you to ask yourself, “what would I want, and what would I do if I got my security identity, and self esteem from God?” When you have this end in mind, it’s time to begin.
John Brundage is a seminarian with the Companions of the Cross. He also writes a Substack Newsletter called Integrated Prayer.