WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOU?

 Last night I met with my weekly small group of 17-20 year olds and led them through an exercise that was very interesting. Try this:

Write down the 5 things you most want out of life. (great marriage; intimacy and obedience with God; healthy, successful and faithful kids; financial freedom; a job you absolutely love and are exceptional at; some legacy that outlasts your life; travel; fame; whatever) Make the list and limit it to 5 items, in no particular order.

Now eliminate one of them. 

Now eliminate another one.

Now, get the list to the top 2. If push came to shove and you could only have 2 of the 5, which 2 win out? What do you truly desire more than anything else for your life?

Ideas to consider after narrowing your list to two items:

1. You truly cannot have it all. Embrace this fact. Just ask the people who have changed the world - the heroes you have in life. Almost all of them admit that the more excellent or successful you want something to be, the more you have to surrender. If you can't have it all, what do you want more than all the other options?

2. If this is what you truly want more than anything, what are you doing now to move you toward those priorities? Does the usage of your time, energy, and focus demonstrate now that these are your highest priorities? If not, why not? And if not, what are you going to do about it? You either need to tell yourself the ugly truth about what your goals really are or you have to force your life to submit to what you truly desire above all else. Make some decisions and be honest with yourself.

3. Articulate your five priorities in writing and keep them in front of you consistently. Read over them. Daydream about them. Pray about them. Commit them to God. This simple habit is probably the most important game changer in this conversation.

4. Finally, commit to being a person of action. The best-lived lives are not lives of ideas and thoughts and dreams. They are lives of action. Get moving. Small steps, consistently taken, are better than waiting for that one, giant breakthrough moment to come your way. Cars in motion are easier to steer than parked cars. Get moving and trust the Lord to order your steps.