Multigenerational goals

-Hike in a rainforest
-Memorize an entire book of the Bible
-Learn a foreign language fluently
-Meet Elizabeth Elliot
-Swim with dolphins

...All on my to-do-before-I-die list. There are a few things on the list that are paltry (i.e: own a dog), and some that are improbable (backpack Australia), but a few of them fall under the header of miracles. Things that could only be accomplished if God chose to intervene. These are family and friends I long to see reconciled with each other or with Christ. The nationwide revival I long to see take place. Entire people groups that have yet to hear the name of Jesus. As I move into a new year, it's always an evaluation time for me. What was the old year like? What do I want to accomplish in the new? And most importantly, am I closer to my Lord this year than I was this time last year? If not, something's got to change. One change that I feel strongly impressed God wants me to make is a change in my prayer life.

It's one thing to write something on my "to-do-before-I-die" list, and quite another to actively pursue it through prayer. The loved one I long to see surrender to Jesus? I need to stop longing and start making it a daily matter of active prayer. The areas of the world that are unreached? I need to stand before my map and present those countries and people groups to Jesus by name. The singer Bono once said

"I'm tired of dreaming. I'm into doing at the moment. It's like, let's only have goals that we can go after."

I hate to pick on the old chap since I've never even heard him sing, but I couldn't disagree more. I think God is pleased when we have hopes and dreams that are far beyond anything we could accomplish in our own strength. He gives us dreams, in fact. Think Joseph. His dreams saw him through betrayal, a pit, slavery, and a dungeon. And Moses, the plan God gave him seemed so far-out that he almost flatly refused to attempt it.

God enjoys dreamers! But not the fluffy Disney "if you believe it you can achieve it" type of nonsense. As we concentrate all our efforts on delighting in the Lord, He gives us wild dreams that can only be fulfilled through His power and in His time. Because if we delight in Him, His desires and our desires will meld. No? Read Psalm 37:4-

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Or what about Jeremiah 33:3?

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

For this reason, the goals of a Christian should be goals that transcend a lifetime; goals that are passed on to my children and to their children. Goals that as a mother, I will try to ingrain into my children at every opportunity so that generations can accomplish what my lifetime alone can not. I'll be the first to admit it: Some of my to-do's can be classified as pure fluff. (Attend a ball.) But the ones that really matter are the ones I'm going to start praying about and striving towards today. Maybe I won't get 'er done, but my kids just might. (Yeah.... technically I guess I can't call it a "do-do-before-I-die" list anymore can I?)