I recently conducted a decade review. I went through all of my year-end reviews that I did while I was in my 20’s and reflected on how I used that decade. (In case you’re interested in the results of my review, I am currently writing a 2-part podcast episode on the lessons I learned in my twenties based on my decade review.)
As I was going through my memories, I found a statement that my father-in-law said to me that really blessed me.
When I was 28, my father-in-law said to me, “Doug, you have become the man you have been trying to become over the last ten years. I am proud of you”
When I read that, I started tearing up. Why? Because I remember where I was ten years prior. I remember having a vision for my life of who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to have.
By the grace of God, a lot of people pouring into my life, and by being intentional, a lot of what I envisioned has happened.
While I am grateful that I have been able to become who I was dreaming of becoming in my twenties, I’m now dreaming of who I’d like to be at the end of my thirties. My prayer is that my father-in-law will be able to say the same thing when I turn 40 that he said when I turned 28.
Why am I sharing this with you? For a two reasons:
1.) To make you realize that you are capable of becoming the man or woman you desire to become – I don’t care who you are or where you are starting out, if you will follow God, be intentional, and surround yourself with the right people, you can do and become anything God wants you to become. God is capable of bringing your further than you could ever imagine. In fact, God can transform your life in such a way that you wouldn’t even recognize the person you used to be.
2.) To get you to think about who you want to be in five to ten years – A lot of people have goals around what they want to accomplish and what they want to do, but few people have goals around who they want to become. I would encourage you to create some “be” goals. Who do you want to be in five to ten years?
Henry Cloud said, “Think in terms of these three categories: one year from now, or more, what do you want to “Be, Do and Have?”
Take some time over the next few days to dream about who you want to be. Then start putting a plan together of all the steps that you need to take to start becoming that. Then take action on your plan every day!
You may not see yourself growing every day, but in a few months and years, you’ll look back and realize that you’ve come a lot further than you think!
My prayer for you today is that you will become the person you have a vision of becoming.
I hope that one day someone can put their arm around you and say, “You’ve become the man or woman you’ve been trying to become for the last ten years. I am proud of you.”
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