One of my newest friends sent me a new year message. The message was thought provoking as he admonished us (his friends) to write our goals down so that we won't lose them.
But then, I asked him a question, "does it mean that those who can't read or write have no right to have goals?" Apparently he hadn't thought along that line. He simply answered me saying, since we have the privilege to write, we should take advantage of it.
Hmmmmm, friends let's talk o.
Goals are compulsory things to have for anyone that desires to fulfill purpose in life. It's expedient to also write them down - even the Bible says so.
There are three stages that goals pass through:
The stage of formation: this is the stage at which it flashes into your brain, the stage when you actually imagine yourself in a particular position at a particular time.
The stage of deliberation: at this stage, you argue with yourself, you ask yourself some hard questions, fight your emotions and convince yourself that it's achievable.
The stage of writing it down: this is the stage the Bible speaks of when it says "make it plain, so that whoever sees it can run with it". This is the most crucial stage of all and sadly, also the most confusing. Write it down, and make it plain. What if you can't read and write? Am I saying the Bible is wrong? No, I'm saying don't understand the Bible in part, try to get it holistically.
When I was in Martinique (a small island in the Caribbean) I began to write a book. I had gone so far with the book but I abandoned it for a very long time. In fact, I lost the book and until I found it, I couldn't remember even a topic in it. Why? I only wrote on paper, those things were never written in my heart. I can rewrite all the articles that I have written on my wall or the ọmọ ìyá Rhoda page word for word because they were not just written on social media, they were also imprinted in my heart.
We were taught in school about the difference between tangibles and intangibles. For example, a chair is tangible. That chair can be destroyed, but the brain that produced the chair is intangible and can always produce another.
That's the difference between a goal written on paper and one written in the heart.
So I ask you today, friends, where are you writing your goals? Your head, on paper, or your heart. If your head conceives it and you take a bold step to write it on paper, please, commit it also into your heart else you've not written it down. Don't do what I did in Martinique. If it's not engraved in your heart yet, you could lose it to anything at anytime.
When the Bible says "write it down, make it plain", it's not meant for paper alone. Yorùbá people have proverbs that have gone through generations, yet they were never written down anywhere. They were simply engraved in people's hearts and passed down to generations, through their children. So I say it once again : write it down, make it plain, especially in your HEART.
Call your wife/husband, your children, boyfriend/girlfriend, family members today and ask them, "where do you write your goals?"
If their answers stop on paper, please help me tell them that it's not yet a goal until it's written in their heart. Good morning.