THIS is the usual activity we do at
the beginning of the
year, just as what we normally do before embarking on anything new, be
it a project, a business, a trip or an excursion.
We should not take this for granted. In fact, we should
increasingly sharpen our sense for this need and the corresponding
skill, for it is what our basic rationality and freedom require. We
are always driven by a sense of purpose which should be given as full
a play as possible.
A life without a sense of purpose is not human, let alone
Christian life. Sad to say, this is what we are observing in many
places nowadays. Many people seem to be living without a clear sense
of purpose other than what the erratic impulses of their instincts,
feelings and passions, biases, trends would dictate or suggest.
This is not to mention that we are often afflicted with
laziness, excessive love for comfort, a lot of attachments to temporal
and worldly things, greed, envy, lust and the like that deaden or at
least distort our sense of planning.
We cannot overemphasize the many benefits and advantages
of planning and goal-setting. It simplifies our life, putting order
into our things and affairs. It enables us to be more aware of our
priorities. It can save as well as multiply our time and other
resources.
Of course, we should always be wary when we so exaggerate
it that we become rigid and inflexible. The need for planning and
goal-setting is not meant for that. On the contrary, it is meant to
equip us properly with the surprises in life.
We should strive to plan things as exhaustively as
possible. We should not be contented only with short-term plans, but
also with a long-term one. In fact, we should try to plan for life,
and even for life hereafter. This is not falling into presumption, as
long as we give due consideration also to the legitimate constraints
involved.
We need to have some plans and goals to reach in the
different aspects of our life—personal, spiritual, family,
professional, social and all the way to the political and global. At
the same time, let’s see to it that all these aspects are integrated
into one working and organic whole.
Yes, we cannot be sure of everything. There simply are too
many things that are beyond our control, our power and resources. But
this reality does not excuse us from planning our life as fully as
possible.
Precisely because of it, we need to make plans, to be able
to face the different contingencies and vicissitudes of life.
Obviously, such plans may have to be revised and modified many times
along the way. This should not bother us. It’s part of the territory.
We just have to remind ourselves that in every plan, we
always make some calculated assumptions and risks. But central to the
whole equation should be the sense of abandonment in the providence of
God who can take care of everything, including our mistakes.
Let’s remember that God is the source of law and order. He
is also the one that enables us to live order. “I can do all things in
him who strengthens me,” St. Paul says (Phil 4,13) Our sense of the
need for planning and goal-setting should begin and end with God.
Short of that, we would be developing it improperly.
This is the challenge we have—how to begin and end with
God in all the planning and goal-setting we do. Many times, we get
contented with merely worldly values and criteria—more knowledge and
information, greater efficiency, profitability, etc. We are still very
awkward in putting God at the center of it all.
That’s why there is a great need to pause and put
ourselves in some mode of deep meditation and contemplation to be able
to touch base with the most profound longing in our heart that is
often muffled by the cares of this world.
What St. Augustine once expressed continues to hold true
today: “My heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” Let’s do
everything so that this sentiment continues to hold sway on us,
overcoming the many powerful distractions the world today offers.
This requires a spirit of sacrifice and self-denial,
precisely echoing what Christ himself told us that if we want to
follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. There is no
other formula for us to follow.
Everything has to be done so that God becomes the be-all
and end-all of our planning and goal-setting.
year, just as what we normally do before embarking on anything new, be
it a project, a business, a trip or an excursion.
We should not take this for granted. In fact, we should
increasingly sharpen our sense for this need and the corresponding
skill, for it is what our basic rationality and freedom require. We
are always driven by a sense of purpose which should be given as full
a play as possible.
A life without a sense of purpose is not human, let alone
Christian life. Sad to say, this is what we are observing in many
places nowadays. Many people seem to be living without a clear sense
of purpose other than what the erratic impulses of their instincts,
feelings and passions, biases, trends would dictate or suggest.
This is not to mention that we are often afflicted with
laziness, excessive love for comfort, a lot of attachments to temporal
and worldly things, greed, envy, lust and the like that deaden or at
least distort our sense of planning.
We cannot overemphasize the many benefits and advantages
of planning and goal-setting. It simplifies our life, putting order
into our things and affairs. It enables us to be more aware of our
priorities. It can save as well as multiply our time and other
resources.
Of course, we should always be wary when we so exaggerate
it that we become rigid and inflexible. The need for planning and
goal-setting is not meant for that. On the contrary, it is meant to
equip us properly with the surprises in life.
We should strive to plan things as exhaustively as
possible. We should not be contented only with short-term plans, but
also with a long-term one. In fact, we should try to plan for life,
and even for life hereafter. This is not falling into presumption, as
long as we give due consideration also to the legitimate constraints
involved.
We need to have some plans and goals to reach in the
different aspects of our life—personal, spiritual, family,
professional, social and all the way to the political and global. At
the same time, let’s see to it that all these aspects are integrated
into one working and organic whole.
Yes, we cannot be sure of everything. There simply are too
many things that are beyond our control, our power and resources. But
this reality does not excuse us from planning our life as fully as
possible.
Precisely because of it, we need to make plans, to be able
to face the different contingencies and vicissitudes of life.
Obviously, such plans may have to be revised and modified many times
along the way. This should not bother us. It’s part of the territory.
We just have to remind ourselves that in every plan, we
always make some calculated assumptions and risks. But central to the
whole equation should be the sense of abandonment in the providence of
God who can take care of everything, including our mistakes.
Let’s remember that God is the source of law and order. He
is also the one that enables us to live order. “I can do all things in
him who strengthens me,” St. Paul says (Phil 4,13) Our sense of the
need for planning and goal-setting should begin and end with God.
Short of that, we would be developing it improperly.
This is the challenge we have—how to begin and end with
God in all the planning and goal-setting we do. Many times, we get
contented with merely worldly values and criteria—more knowledge and
information, greater efficiency, profitability, etc. We are still very
awkward in putting God at the center of it all.
That’s why there is a great need to pause and put
ourselves in some mode of deep meditation and contemplation to be able
to touch base with the most profound longing in our heart that is
often muffled by the cares of this world.
What St. Augustine once expressed continues to hold true
today: “My heart is restless until it finds its rest in you.” Let’s do
everything so that this sentiment continues to hold sway on us,
overcoming the many powerful distractions the world today offers.
This requires a spirit of sacrifice and self-denial,
precisely echoing what Christ himself told us that if we want to
follow him, we need to deny ourselves and carry the cross. There is no
other formula for us to follow.
Everything has to be done so that God becomes the be-all
and end-all of our planning and goal-setting.
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