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This week brings us Christmas Eve and then ultimately Christmas (sorry folks, you’ll need to wait until next Monday for Boxing Day!) The anticipation is building with every waking moment, then add the visions of sugar plums dancing in our dreams…Wow, there is a lot of stress to go around!

I was having a conversation about getting closer to our goals and dreams with my wife this weekend. Sometimes things that are right in front of me seem so obvious that they need no further clarification, but they are often so close that I just look past them and completely miss the easy truth…

Where am I trying to go with this? You have the luxury of reading everything once it is finished, but I’ve been sitting in front of the glowing screen trying to push the thoughts together into something cohesive without much luck. Then here comes Billy Joel playing New York State of Mind – “It comes down to reality, that’s fine with me, ’cause I’ve let it slide…” That’s it. That’s it right there. I realize that sometimes I’ve set my goals so far ahead of where I am that the practicality of getting there isn’t much of a factor. Now as I get closer to the things that I aspire to after so many years of marching in a direction, I find that closer inspection makes the achievement doubtful; I can get close, but never get “there”. It makes me feel a bit like Moses tramping around the Sinai for years only to stop just short of the destination.

Discouraging…

But even though Moses didn’t make it into the Promised Land, he lead the next generation there and played a huge part in there future success. My efforts are not for me. I am not moving forward so that I can get ahead; I am moving forward so that the people who come behind can go ahead. I run my leg of the relay so that someone else can follow up my efforts. I may not break that tape, but someone will! So as long as there is a track I will run.

Merry Christmas and…

-Rise Up!!