As I celebrate another year of life — birthday number 43 — I’m using today’s post to document some things I want to be true one year from now.
As always, I am going to be vulnerable and real. If you read this blog regularly, that is what you get. No ghostwriter. Just me. To that end, I hope this post inspires you to think about your next year. What do you want to be true about it? What are you doing to pursue it?
Here goes mine:
Growing in my walk with Jesus
Most importantly, I want to grow in my walk with Jesus. I want to dig deeper into His Word, memorize more of it, and allow it to transform my personality. God, help me become more loving of other people. Help me lead with truth AND compassion.
I also want to be someone who talks more openly with others about Jesus. And I know this will totally weird some of you out — which is not my intent. But the more I read about Jesus in His word, the more I see how his way is the way to life: It truly is more blessed to give than receive. Turning your cheek is better than spending your limited energy on fighting. And the pursuit of truth, especially in a culture that quite frankly is post-truth, is worthy of your pursuit. I could go on and on here, but I will say that my only hope is tied to the resurrected Jesus.
I am not great. I am definitely sinful. Don’t let a blog post or LinkedIn profile with a few likes mislead you. I need Jesus, period. And I am unashamed to say that in this blog. If that weirds you out, so be it. I still love you because my cup runs over when I am full of Jesus’ love.
When I am not, I am a jerk.
A better husband and father
I want to be MORE faithful to Sarah. No confession is forthcoming, but I strive to be an even better husband 365 days from now than I am today. Period, bottom line. Sarah is still amazing to me. I need to cherish the limited time we have. While I hope it is another 50-plus years, there are no guarantees.
I want to be a better dad to Will, Ben, and Sadie. What does “better” mean? I want to focus on the best things. That means — you guessed it — I want to talk more about Jesus and less about baseball. I am going to weird them out, too! Seriously, I have noticed that I often treat secondary things as main things and main things (like my faith in Jesus) as secondary. This has been entirely unintentional. But I am owning up to it. I will live this year differently.
Further, I want to be the kind of dad who speaks love into his kids while teaching them the truth. What I mean by that is that I’m teaching them things like actions have consequences, life is not about participation trophies, and doing hard things is necessary.
Finally, I will engage in their fun because I need more fun, and living in this broken world, they do too!
My work at Hoffer Plastics
Have you noticed that I have not yet mentioned being a leader at Hoffer Plastics — or work in general? That makes me wonder: Why do I spend so much time worrying about Hoffer Plastics?
Would getting the primary things right help or hurt my work at Hoffer Plastics?
These are the questions that I’m pondering. What about you?
One year from now, I want to be ALL-IN with our work at Hoffer Plastics. This does not contradict what I said above; it just comes in the appropriate order of priority.
I want to be a better leader. I want to ask more questions, give more affirmations, and take more interest in people. And at the same time, I want to be the kind of leader who focuses on the few things that will move the needle for our organization rather than the many things we have to get done.
To be sure, the latter things need to be done, but they cannot be done at the expense of the former. This is probably not applicable to everyone reading this blog, but it is for those in executive-level positions. To the best of our ability, we must look ahead six to twelve months and prepare our team for what is coming.
I also want to be a more generous leader, giving team members, customers, and established partners the time they deserve.
Finally, I want to be the kind of person who is rigid on the primary things and flexible on everything else. At my worst, I get stressed out about things that won’t matter. Will my sports teams figure it out? What will happen with the election? What’s the next book I should read to improve my leadership? These are things worth considering, but they are all secondary. I think about these questions and thousands of other things way too much — and at the expense of focusing on what truly matters.
This is not a perfect list because I am not a perfect man.
This IS an imperfect list because I am an imperfect man, saved by grace, thanks to Jesus.
To another year
I have one last thought, and I hope Sarah reads this: I am thankful for another year of life! I am 43. Pass out t-shirts!
I am thankful for another year. Thank you, God, for 43.
Thank you, God, for another year. Thank you for Jesus, Sarah, the kids, and work.
Yes, thank you that I have a job and get to work.
Thank you for this blog and the fun I have writing it.
Here is to another year!