We don’t always need to be striving. 

I ran across a post that someone wrote about the importance of perspective. She admitted that she had gotten hung up on meeting goals she had set on her tracking device. Well, those things have to be charged, so that means while they’re charging, they’re not tracking your movements. Because of that, on that particular day, she didn’t meet a goal (although extremely close). Her point was about our perspective. And I couldn’t agree more!

My latest Garmin has a step tracker. Tracking steps has never been a priority for me, but this gadget did it for me. Soon I got used to feeling it zap me when I hit 10,000 steps. (Let me remind you that this step goal started as a marketing campaign in Japan. There’s nothing magical about 10,000 steps.) Well, there came a day I realized I hadn’t been “zapped,” but I knew I had an active day. When I looked at my stats, I realized my Garmin had increased my step count goal. Because I had been getting 10,000 steps regularly, my Garmin decided I should get more!

When does a device get to set our goals??

I remember when I had a scale, and I had a goal to lose five pounds. Just five pounds. Five pounds, and I would be happy. But then, you lose the five pounds only to say, “Well, maybe I can lose a couple more.” It was never enough. There will always be those “last five pounds.”

And when I was racing, I had goals to break my own personal records for my 5K time, half marathon, and marathon finish times. One day, I had a moment of clarity and said, “If I keep getting faster, I’ll be running with the Kenyans.” Obviously, that could never happen. There was no way possible I could do anything that would get me running that fast. My build. My genetics. My training. None of it could be adjusted enough to allow me to run that far that fast. At some point, you stop setting personal records.

More is not always better. It’s not always achievable. It’s absolutely not necessary. And, whose idea is “more” anyway?

Have you gotten obsessed with some number? Perhaps a random goal, that as soon as you get close to it, only moves that much further away? Are you doing this to yourself? Are you letting someone or something pressure you to do more?

During the Olympics, athletes talked about the pressure to perform and how it impacted their mental health. Instead of celebrating a bronze or a silver medal, they were beating themselves up for not getting gold. And if one medal was good, more medals were better. They lost the joy of their sport, and instead found themselves drowning under this pressure. Pressure from themselves. Expectations from others.

We can suffer under the same expectations and pressures. It’s exhausting, mentally and physically, to always be reaching and striving. To feel like other people are watching and expecting you to make progress.

Take some time to consider your goals, your goals. Are they helpful? Are they achievable? Do they inspire you? Are you the one who set them?

Don’t let a number or someone’s expectations have power over you. It’s time to say, “Enough already!”

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Genesis 1:31 (NKJV)

When God made you, He said you were good. You are still good. You are enough just as you are. He loves you. Let that peace and security settle over you. Rest in it. Yes, rest. Stop striving. Stop setting goals that are out of reach. Rest in the assurance of Christ’s love for you. Then, honor Him by honoring the one body, the one life, He has entrusted to you in a way that is pleasing to Him.

If you want to set goals, seek the Lord’s guidance. Set goals that are attainable. Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in your life to give you wisdom and self-control when needed.

Let’s run the race together. But run your race at the pace the Lord is setting for you, and I’ll do the same.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2a (NIV)  

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