In a couple of days, I graduate, and a few days after that, I start my first full-time job.  It’s an office job, a “real,” nine-to-five job.  Everyone keeps asking, “What are your plans for life?  Where do you want to be in five years, ten years?  What are your goals?”  I guess this is my answer.

Change has always scared me, and in the face of this huge change, I’m terrified. Most of it boils down to one thing, though: I’m afraid of settling for a half-existence of my soul dying while my body goes on and becomes “successful” in a fancy car and big house, all alone except for a couple cats and a dog.

So these are my goals:

I want to live for something I can believe in.  I want to make a difference in the people around me, to change my world for the better in a way that’s deeper than a pocketbook.

I want to live each day like it’s never happened before.  I want to see the world with new eyes, to bask in wonder at the beauty of God’s creation.  I want to pause with the people around me, to hear them and see them and know them.

I want to be free.  Free from slavery to money, free from materialism, free from the facades that we put on when we want people to like us and don’t think they’ll like our true selves.  I want to be free to quit my job if it starts to kill my soul or if the Spirit moves me to something else, free to pick up and travel or move across town or across the world.

I want to love recklessly.  I want to pour out my love on everyone I meet, like it’s oxygen or sunlight, not like it’s a commodity to be bartered.  I want to love without self-consciousness, without caring about people’s flaws or different philosophies.

I want to know God.  I don’t want to settle for an intellectual theology and proper apologetic for His existence–I want to walk with Him every second of every day, to feel His Spirit, to hear His heartbeat.  I want Him to be the core of my existence, the source from which all of my thoughts and actions flow.

I want to be real with people.

I want to laugh freely, to dance unreservedly, to worship the Lord without restraint.

I want to write something that matters, something real, something that speaks truth to people.

I want to dare to dream big dreams, to be bold enough to pursue those dreams.

I want my life to be a song.  I want my generation to awaken and shake the earth by bringing the Kingdom of God into every moment.

I want to be utterly myself, without trying to be who other people want or expect me to be, and I want to like who I am.

These are my goals in life.