Have you ever watched a person tread water? Moving those arms and legs furiously but never really getting anywhere? It’s exhausting just to watch. Â I mean with all that effort shouldn’t they bee halfway across the ocean by now? Â Yet, this is exactly how I feel right now. Â Like I have been treading water for years getting nowhere.
Then I realized why. I had given up on setting goals. I had given up even trying to get anywhere. And just like that swimmer, after my energy was gone I sank. Right in the spot where I had worked so hard for so long. Â How about you? Â Have you ever given up on goals?
I’m not sure when it started. It’s like when does water really start to boil? When the water first gets hot, or is it at the first bubble, or do you need a bunch of rolling bubbles to call it boiling? Either way it is hot! And either way I just quit doing it.
“A person without a goal is like a swimmer just treading water. Â You use up all your effort and energy and get nowhere.”
– Diana Rasmussen of Prayers and Promises
7 Steps on How to Stop Treading Water
and Set a Goal:
-
Stop using up all your energy on useless things. Stop beating yourself up over the past. Stop waiting for others to do what you think they should do. Stop treading water.
-
Pray and ask God to open your eyes to what He has for your future. Get a bigger picture of the ocean than the pool you call life.
-
Be open to change. Change isn’t easy – but it will be worth it. God promised us all an abundant life – let’s be done settling. Wouldn’t you rather swim in the ocean anyway?
-
Look for new opportunities to swim in other places and further than you have before. There are plenty of bodies of water to explore. Â There is way more than the kiddie pool in your back yard.
-
Focus your energy on moving forward, not turning back. Â It is much easier to do the breast stroke forward than the backstroke backwards. Some people spend their whole life looking backwards and living in condemnation and regret. Set your vision ahead my friends. The Son is rising upon you – He has called you out of the boat! Â It’s time to start this water walking stuff!
-
. Take a deep breath and think of one goal and write it down. What is your vision for your life? What is your calling? What is your purpose?  Take 5 minutes right now and write it down somewhere. Anywhere. Even a napkin if you have to! Here is mine – About Me. (P.S.  I have been writing for 4 years now and I just wrote this today, lol!)
-
Get back in the water. It’s really hard to swim on land. Now straighten out your body, take the first stroke forward, and kick your feet. Trust that the rest of you will follow. Yes, God did make these bodies to swim and even float and walk on water! And like Dory says:
I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. – Philippians 3:12-16 MSG
