Keeping your eyes on the goal

All my life,
I have heard that the way to accomplish anything
is to set a goal
and keep your eyes on it
as you work toward it.

Am I alone in this?
That feels overwhelming to me!
Goals often seem so distant,
and in the hard times,
impossible to reach!

In the days of computerless
tractors and plows,
I have heard it said that
farmers picked a spot in the distance
and walked/drove toward it,
never taking their eyes off of it,
in order to plow the first furrow straight.
They were then able to follow
that first, straight furrow
for a perfect field.
For that initial row,
they kept their eyes on the goal.
But only for that first furrow.
After that,
they kept their eyes on the path they had created.
Had they continued to stare relentlessly
at the goal,
the field would have been unsymetrical indeed!

I have been a slacker over the winter.
And now I am having to work very hard
at getting back in shape
rather than the much easier maintenance
of already being in shape.

I do a run/walk each day.
As I go, I pick markers.
I begin running at this tree
and I slow to a walk at that one.
I run again at that bench,
and walk at the gazebo in the distance.
I have discovered something.
I have a much more difficult time,
become much more winded,
if I watch the marker in the distance
as I run.
I also discovered I am much more likely
to trip and fall.
And much less likely
to reach the goal at a run.

If, however,
I watch the ground at my feet,
with occasional glances up
at the goal in front of me,
I am surprised at how quickly I reach it,
am less winded when I get there,
and am often able to continue running
beyond the goal.
I have also discovered that
my initial distance or speed goals
for the day,
can be exceeded when
I keep my mind on the goal
and my eyes on the path.

I have particularly heard
"eyes on the goal"
in regards to my Christian walk.
"Keep your eyes on Heaven!"
And very often Philippians 3:14 was quoted:

I run toward the goal,

so I can win the prize of being called to heaven.

This is the prize God offers 

because of what Christ Jesus has done.

So I have spent my life running toward Heaven.

Can I be honest here?

When I was 14

and 21

and 30

and 40,

Heaven seemed very, very far away.

I would look toward that goal

as I had been taught,

and very often could not see it at all.

It made it very difficult to run toward it!

At 55 when I found myself alone in my race,

and my beloved had reached the goal,

it seemed simultaneously nearer

and desperately, endlessly far away.

Today, at 62,

it still seems distant,

but is, at last,
becoming more and more attainable
to my mind's eye.

As I ran this week,
I began to think about Philippians 3:14.
I began to wonder if we are chasing the wrong thing!
So I began to research this passage.

(My Lanny Love has ruined me! 

I no longer take "others" words as "gospel",

no longer look only at the surface of Scripture.

He has taught me that even when I am not "teaching"

I need to delve deeply into the Scripture

to find what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach me.

"Devotions" and "Bible study" are not the same thing!)

What I discovered is this.

Many translations,

especially word for word translations,

rather than thought for thought translations,

and most commentaries,

feel that the correct interpretation of that Scripture

is not with Heaven as the goal.

More accurately,

we should chase Christ that He would lead us to Heaven

through His death and resurrection.

So then, my goal is not the tree in the distance,

my goal is fitness, health, and long life.

The tree is just a marker,

one more easily reached if I am not staring into the distance.

Just the same, Heaven is not the goal in the distance,

the prize toward which we strain.

Christ is the goal.

And He is right there!

Heaven is just a marker that we have reached the goal -

Christ Jesus!