#Goals

Oh you know, it's that time again -- pull out the school supplies, print the syllabus, get that dreaded first email from the professor. A new semester is back in full swing and with it comes the hype of football games, rush week, old friends, and new ones. I don't know about you, but to me, the beginning of each new year feels like embarking on a grand adventure. You start off with this idea in mind of where it's going to take you and which direction you want to go, but you don't really know what kind of excitement you'll venture into until you dive right in. I love the chase, the thrill of the adventure and the fact that if God's got anything to do with it, I know for sure that by the end of this year, my life will look totally different than it does sitting at my computer in this exact moment. Yes, I am probably way too hyped up about this, but for a moment, stop and think of all that you can do in the eight to nine months time you have in school, or wherever you might be. It's the cliché saying, "there's a world of opportunity" out there and it's totally true. So my question to you is, what are you going to do with your year? What are your #goals, as we all say?

I'm sure you have at least a few things that come to mind, probably something like "get better grades this semester..." Which hello, that's probably a great goal most of us should have! I'm not talking surface level, though. I'm talking, you're about to embark on a wild new adventure and change the world... #goals. (Excuse me as I get a bit carried away over the idea of changing the world, it's at the top of my list. Still working on it, I'll get back to you.) So what's it going to be? I have a total nerdy side to me, so I sat down and made myself a list of goals for this year, you know, get a vision going. It is so easy to lose sight of priorities in the midst of keeping your social life "on point" and trying to fit in. I mean, it's a little scary really, looking around at our generation and seriously wondering what we're about to get ourselves into with this group. So I say, it's better late than never to start raising up a generation that has drive and big goals and dreams for their lives. If you know me, or you've read any of my other blog posts, you know that I have some pretty big and far fetched goals. I am definitely the dreamer. But I would rather sit and listen intently to the guy that still talks about how he wants to be the president one day or an astronaut, as if he's five, than the one who's coasting through life expecting his grand purpose to just show up at his door one day.

Psalm 84:11 says "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." My ultimate goal is to live out a life full of integrity, standing steadfast for what is right and true in the eyes of my great God and making his name known in all places. So why not make it our goal to walk uprightly and do it with aspirations like that of a young child? Not just because the verse says we should and that if we do God will make good things happen for us, but because we serve a Lord that is our perfect shield and who wants for us to believe that heck yeah we can change the world if we want to. So as cheesy as this might sound, make this year your year to chase after big goals, do more than just what everybody else is doing, and show up for your life. Take the adventure, step out in faith knowing that you have a God standing firm behind you. It's not an easy thing, setting big goals for yourself can mean a big let down if it doesn't work out, and sometimes God even makes us wait for things (I know, shocker, as we live in a world where we want things NOW)... But if not, he is still good. So I say --

"Wake up early. Drink coffee. Work hard. Be ambitious. Keep your priorities straight, your mind right and your head up. Do well, live well, and dress really well. Do what you love, love what you do. Start living. And look at your own life and say... #goals."

Hope everyone has a great year!

{forever grateful, Ashley}

An Open Letter To My Future Self

Hey it's me, you from many years ago...

I don't know where life has taken you, but I hope it's somewhere wonderful. I'm writing you this letter  to hopefully serve as a reminder of how far you've come. Remember all those times you doubted yourself? The times you felt so alone and confused? When you didn't think God ever heard your cries for help, when you just couldn't see how you'd ever make any of your big dreams a reality, or get past all of the stupid mistakes you made? I've been feeling a lot of those things. My prayer for you is that now, down the road, you're looking back and you're smiling at this old self, smiling and remembering how strong you became because of me. I worry. I worry because I can't see you, I don't know what the future holds and I'm not sure how to get to you yet. But you do, you are my future and I can't wait to meet you and see all that you've done, everything you've accomplished. I hope you had the chance to chase after all the things that I'm still sitting here wanting to do but haven't done yet, and that God has provided you with more blessings than you'll ever deserve. I hope you pursued the career you always wanted, I hope you get to serve others everyday and be a light for all of God's people. Maybe you've married the man of your dreams, maybe you have beautiful little kids, or maybe not. Maybe your life now looks completely different than I imagined it would, but whatever it looks like, I hope you think it was worth all of the bumps in the road getting there. Even though you don't exist yet as I'm writing this, you give me hope to keep believing in myself even as I continue to fail. I'm your past, and though I'll become just a memory, I'll always be with you because I shaped you. What I do today effects who you (or we, I guess I should say) will be tomorrow and several years down the road. I'll mess up, I've already messed up. But I've also succeeded. Future self, I want you to look back and be proud of who you were because it made you who you are. Of course, you won't be proud of everything and those things are the ones you really learned from. In this moment I'm doing my best with what I've been given, so overall, I hope you can look back at me and appreciate me. Tell stories about me, about all of the adventures I went on, all of the beautiful relationships I had (and the not so beautiful ones), the crazy things I did, all of the things I'm trying to do now so that you have the chance to change the world later. I want you to forgive your old self for the choices I've made that may have negatively impacted the life you have now in some way. I look up to you, so I want you to keep believing in your potential, don't take life too seriously, love fiercely, forgive without punishing, stay motivated, give more than you take, laugh until you give yourself wrinkles, love yourself, and always remember to pursue God first. I'll see you soon.

                                                Love, Me.