If I were to ask you to list a set of virtues and habits that go with the word “Goal”, I’m pretty sure perseverance, fortitude, discipline would all come to mind, but a few others have snuck into my head as I have continued with this journey. Forgiveness is one, even professional athletes are not at the top of their game every single day, you have to be able to forgive your mistakes if you’re going to achieve a long term goal. For me, I took things easy after Pentecost and am only now getting back into the game. There was once a time when I would not have so easily forgiven myself and gotten back on the horse, in fact there were times I would have walked away completely from the horse rather than face the failure.
The one I would like to say I am getting a passing grade on, but am not, is Humility. Honestly, getting back deeply into the game came only after about a week of secret, silent, whispered prayers – and yet – and yet when I got back from the bike ride tonight all my thoughts were, “raa raa raa, I’m back on track! I got this“. Yeah, right. If I had this I would not have needed a week of prayers to get me going. Athletes are way more humble, ever hear their thank you speeches? They know they would not have gotten where they were without a whole tone of supporting people… learn from them, not me.
Gratitude. Anyone who has worked on a long term goal knows that a key component is gratitude. God gives you a lot of mini pick me ups, sends encouragement, and cuts many hurdles down to just the right size and so it is only fitting that our gratitude game gets upped. A good way to keep on going is to look back at the road you have travelled and start giving thanks.
I have completed 613.92km and have about 160km to go (so 6km a day instead of my original 4km); all of it has been done outside by either walking or cycling. As I illustrated above in my paragraph on my lack of humility, a part of most long term goals we don’t think about is Prayerfulness. There are very few people who enjoy endless updates and details as you trek through over 700km in 4km increments – but God does. He delights in hearing all about our successes, our failures, our faithfulness or faithlessness. God is not some distant cosmic being – He loves being involved in the nitty gritty of our daily living and that makes for a great listener. Prayer is a conversation, and while no, I’m not some fruity mystic, I do think He speaks through and in our goals all the time. Tonight as I biked He whispered encouragement through the wind whipping along the tops of the trees. He greeted me with a frog in the middle of the road, and as I neared the point to turn around became the friend who is just a little bit ahead to keep you going by placing a cute little bunny to hop along the path about 100m ahead of me.
Everyday life, everyday goals. That is where we grow in often unexpected virtues.
Mittermeier 
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