Goals and Priorities

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. — 1 Corinthians 13:11

I have been looking at goals and priorities lately and how they seem to change over time. As a young boy my priorities were, “just get me through the school day”, “hurry holidays please get here”, and the big one, “come on summer vacation!” All these were things that I looked forward to. When they happened I did all that I could to enjoy them.

As a teenager it was, “as soon as I’m old enough I will start building my life and do something important”. I could not wait to get finished with school and start my life away from home. The first chance I had was a tour in the Marines and I could not wait to get started there. In fact, after my first week in the Marines my next goal started, “please help me get through boot camp so I can start my time at my first duty station”.

At that point in my life I had a feeling something was missing. I loved being in the service but there seemed to be more. I enjoyed the fast pace, the schedule, the responsibility of serving our great country. But it seemed that as much as I loved the Corp there needed to be more. So I would do everything that was expected of me but soon there would be a new goal, or priority, if you will.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. — Ephesians 5:31

Some advice my Dad gave me as we were growing up was to find yourself a good girl and have a family. The actual quote was “find yourself a girl that has money and have a family” but the money part was not important to me. So when I got home from the service I found a job. It was not the best job but it was part of the goal. It got me started on the next goal.

I started working about the end of June. Prior to that in May, I met a very wonderful girl who did not have a lot of money. She made minimum wage at Super X drug store. But since I was used to making a soldier’s wage, it was enough. The first time I met Pamela Jean Dyer, my wife of 43 years, I knew we were meant to be together. We dated for 6 weeks and got married. The next goal was started, to start our family.

Family

We decided we wanted to start a family. This was a goal that Pam and I both agreed on. Soon we would be blessed with a son, an important part of our family. But then another goal came. During the time we waited for Jeremiah to be born, I saw a show where a baby had chewed on some cigarette butts and gotten nicotine poisoning. At that moment the goal to stop smoking hit me and I walked over to the trash can. I threw my cigarettes in the trash and that was it.

I would love to say it was easy but others around me were still smoking. It took time to get over the want to smoke when I would smell it. But I had a helper with this and he wasn’t even born yet. With this came yet another goal, “to work as hard as I could to provide for my wife and son.” I think they always knew they were the ones that gave me the desire to do better, to work harder, and to make certain I did all that I could for them.

Work

Broderick’s was the factory I worked at for 13 years until it closed down. When they closed, they somehow found a way for the company to keep all of the retirement that we had accumulated. This just made me that much more determined to provide for Jeremiah and Pam. I worked for temporary services and would work doing odd jobs for sometimes very little money. Jer and Pam were worth it. It was also during this time, that Pam and I would get saved and I would decide to become a minister a few years later. This goal was a deep desire to live for Jesus and to try to encourage as many as I could to get saved also.

My next job would be working at Belmar Parts. I decided I would work hard and continue to provide for my family. I was not used to this type of atmosphere because all the other places I worked were smaller and we all knew each other. This place was different. A lot of people were there for themselves and you had to watch who you trusted.

Injury

During that time, I hurt my back but this only strengthened my desire to take care of my family.

I ended up working through the pain for 3 years. At one point, I would get home and lie on a mat on the floor only to go back the next day and start the whole process over again. I worked until I could not stand and then I had to have an operation on my lower back. The doctor wanted me to schedule 6 months off of work however, I took off 30 days and went back to work.

Eventually, I came to the thought that if others could learn better jobs at work, I could too. So I started bidding on other jobs that were out of my skill set, would get those jobs and excel at them. When I started setting these goals I never realized how God would use these to impact my life and the ones that I loved around me.

What now?

Even retirement was part of those goals and priorities. So I was thinking the other night while I could not sleep because of the pain in my lower back and extremities. I started thinking, “do I still set goals and priorities?” The answer is, “yes I do.” The one I still set every day is to preach the word of God and try to help others find Jesus. The most important is to serve my Father in Heaven.

I also have a few that I never realized until that moment the other night about 3 in the morning. To see our grandson graduate high school and college. And to see our granddaughter graduate both high school and college. One that may seem silly to some but to me it’s one of my favorites, for Pam and I to dance at our grandson and granddaughter’s weddings. And to eventually hold my great grandchildren on my knee.

Goals and Priorities

Goal and priorities are very important in our lives. I pray that this may have given you something to think about and to let you know the many other goals and priorities I had set in my life. Thank you for letting me share a few of these with you. May God bless you and give you the desire to bless others.