You Already Have
(c) Staci Stallings, 2005
About a year ago my goals changed radically. The first goal that changed was the one that said my ultimate goal was to get to Heaven and have God say, "Well done good and faithful servant." What I realized was, that goal was about me-what I would get, about what I thought I had earned, and about having Him be proud of me. When the understanding that it wasn't about me but about Him came through my life, I altered that goal to be this: What I want when I get to Heaven is for God to put His arms around me and say, "I love you." That's it. That's all I want. And you know what? He says that every day, so I know that goal is already met.
The second goal I had was about reaching people for God. I wanted to touch as many people as I could for Him. It sounded good, but again, that was about me-not about Him. It was about what I could do for Him. What a joke. The God who put the stars in the sky, formed everything from nothing, and designed it all to perfection, and I was going to do something for Him. Right. What I now understand is that He doesn't need me to do anything for Him, what He wants most is to live through me-just as He lived through Jesus.
Based on that understanding, in the last month or so I have altered that goal as well. My "while I'm here" goal is now: I want anyone who looks at me to see Him-in my writing, in person, on the phone, however we happen to meet. The credit for everything that my life produces is His, not mine. For if He is living through me, it is Him that is doing whatever efforts happen to come through me, so He deserves the credit.
The cool thing about this is that this morning I was listening to a song I'd heard many times and really liked. The song is by Keith Urban. It is one he never released. It's on his "Golden Road" album. It's about his dad and how as he gets older, he sees more things in his life he realizes are things his dad did. Then toward the end of the song, there was a part that just blew me away. It says:
"Everything he ever did, he did with love,
And I'm proud today to say I'm his son.
When somebody says, 'I hope I get to meet your dad,'
I just smile and say, 'You already have.'"
That's my goal to be able to say that by meeting me they've already met my Father for He is living through me. That goal feels like a perfect fit in the way the others never did. The others put me in chains about what I had to do. These goals free me to simply live and watch what He does through me. It's an awesome way to live!
*~*~*
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posted by Staci Stallings at 4:24 AM
3 Comments:
"Song for Dad" is one of my favorites too. And I'm sure his Dad, like all of us are praying for Keith. Thank you for acknowledging Keith and his talent.
Keith, like most of us, has his share of past & present issues that would like to drag him down to the depths. However, with a wife who loves him and his obvious faith in God--not to mention all of our prayers, I believe he will find the strength from God to beat these demons and move on with life. He is in my thoughts and prayers as someone who has impacted my life in a big way for the better. May he find the peace and joy that comes from knowing God on the deepest level possible.
Your post really resonated with me - I, too, would like to take on that goal, to have people see Him in me in everything that I do. Thanks so much for posting.
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