{"id":800716,"date":"2019-10-25T12:06:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=373512"},"modified":"2019-10-25T12:06:28","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T18:06:28","slug":"walking-our-faith-writing-goals-and-taking-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/walking-our-faith-writing-goals-and-taking-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking our Faith: Writing goals and taking action"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson<\/strong>
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

I\u2019m one of those people who write out their
\ngoals every day as if they have already come to pass, which means I write
\nthings like, \u201cI have achieved my goal weight\u201d or \u201cI am a New York Times
\nbestselling author.\u201d By writing in the present tense, it makes it real and
\nattainable in my mind.<\/p>\n

Another goal I write each day is, \u201cI am kind,
\nreliable and generous.\u201d I\u2019ve improved with age, and I\u2019d much rather you meet
\nthe person I am now than the person I was 20 years ago, when the universe
\nrevolved around me and my immediate needs.<\/p>\n

To be honest, the first time I wrote that
\ngoal, I wondered why I had. I consider myself a pretty nice person nowadays.
\nBut upon honest reflection, I\u2019ve learned that this is not always the case. So
\nthe writing of this goal is a reminder that I must work daily toward being
\nkind, generous and reliable.<\/p>\n

Moment by moment, what does it mean to live
\nwith this intention? One of my shortcomings is a bad habit of being late by
\n10-15 minutes, which is the opposite of being reliable.<\/p>\n

This is not laziness. In fact, most late birds
\nwill tell you they are late because they are so busy! But being late implies
\nthat my time is more valuable than someone else\u2019s, and since we are all on this
\nearth sharing the same finite minutes and hours, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n

And maybe that\u2019s where reliability comes in
\nas I hurry through my days, single minded in my focus. Which means I very often
\noverlook those around me who could use an extra minute or two to understand
\nwhat I\u2019m trying to say or who really need me to stop and listen. Being reliable
\nmeans keeping commitments, meaning what we say, doing what we promise.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is where being generous comes
\nin. One\u2019s first assumption might be that generosity means to give lavishly with
\none\u2019s money, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s really about money at all.<\/p>\n

Of course, charities need financial support,
\nbut being generous can mean being generous with our time, our talents and, most
\nof all, our compassion. A willingness to give of ourselves to someone who needs
\na simple hand. Being generous with our patience, and understanding that we are
\nall doing our best.<\/p>\n

And that leaves me with the desire to be
\nkind. Too often when I lose my patience, my first instinct is to become
\njudgemental, to assume the worst rather than the best.<\/p>\n

I will sheepishly admit that I once had to go
\nto Confession two weeks in a row to discuss with Father Emmanuel my sin of
\nunfairly judging others. With his characteristic compassion, Father Emmanuel
\nsuggested that whenever I feel tempted to judge someone, I instead look for
\nsomething good in that person.<\/p>\n

It sounds simple, as most wisdom does, but
\nit\u2019s worked. As a result, I find I\u2019m not only less judgmental, I\u2019m happier. As
\nI look for the good in others, I present a kinder face to the world which is
\nreturned to me.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most quoted Bible verse at every
\nwedding is, in my estimation, the most misunderstood:<\/p>\n

\u201cLove is patient, love is kind. It does not
\nenvy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is
\nnot self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It
\nalways protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.\u201d 1 Corinthians
\n13:4-5<\/p>\n

When two people are in love, we admire the
\nstrong emotion which binds them together. But perhaps we can see love in a new
\nway.<\/p>\n

Like my daily goal of being reliable, kind
\nand generous, we might understand love not only as an emotion but a daily
\npractice of action. Something that is never completed but renewed each day
\nimperfectly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not qualified to give advice on marriage
\nbecause I\u2019ve never been married. But I do know how imperfectly I have loved and
\nbeen loved. And sometimes I even remember that I must see love in myself to
\nrecognize love in others. Some days I am successful, and most days I fail, but
\nmore days than not, I discover love is an abiding consideration, an
\naccumulation of small acts of kindness. And so I wake up the next morning and
\ntry again.<\/p>\n

To hear, \u201cI love you,\u201d warms my heart. But to
\nexperience love when you share your muffin and coffee on a snowy morning, is at
\nleast as nice.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned this week: Writing goals each day is a wonderful discipline to focus my priorities. But words, even written daily, will not change anything. It is necessary that I put my words into action each day. Slow by slow, I am becoming a better person.<\/p>\n

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson\u2019s column \u201cWalking our Faith\u201d publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Anderson is the author of 10 novels and nonfiction books on faith. She has lived in Breckenridge since 2016. Contact her at suzanne@suzanneelizabeths.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suzanne Elizabeth Anderson I\u2019m one of those people who write out their goals every day as if they have already come to pass, which means I write things like, \u201cI have achieved my goal weight\u201d or \u201cI am a New York Times bestselling author.\u201d By writing in the present tense, it makes it real and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 14:25:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}