“Planning Backwards”
Driving while looking in your rear-view mirror isn’t a good thing. I remember once I was sitting at a red light in the church van and randomly decided I needed to be in the other lane. Thinking there were no other cars around, I looked in my rear-view mirror and backed up… and right over a small car that I could not see.
In life, it’s impossible to move forward safely if you’re always looking backwards. However, it is beneficial to look forward to where you want to be in 5 years, 10 years etc and work backwards. This is something that has worked for me. To look forward and then project backwards, asking myself “What are the steps that I will have to take now to get where I want to be later?”
This summer I climbed Mt. Adams with my son and a bunch of teenagers with Youth Dynamics. I have always wanted to climb a mountain. I pictured my son and I celebrating on the summit. With each painful step, it helped to focus on the goal. I knew that to get to the summit, I had to endure each painful step necessary to get me there. I also like to fast forward my life to the end. I picture myself laying in a hospital bed when I’m an old dude, my family is gathered around my bed and I’m reflecting on my life.
What are the things I want to be known for in that moment? I probably won’t care so much about my accomplishments; the Bible calls most of them “wood, hay and stubble,” (1 Cor. 3:11-13). The only things that will really matter will be what I did that had a Kingdom Impact. People, individual souls who I helped point to Christ along my journey.
More than the summits, it’s those you journey with in life that make a difference. What are you doing that’s eternal? With whom are you making a Kingdom Impact? Let’s determine to make our days count.
