Why Do We Do What We Do?

Jan here, continuing with a theme I started on Seekerville last Monday. (You can read that post here.)

Why have I been thinking about goals and planning for the future so much lately? I was going to blame it on age, but then I realized that our family has gone through huge upheavals in the past few years - most of them very good - but all of them stressful to some degree or another. When you add it all up, I don't wonder why I have trouble sleeping sometimes. :-)

The defining moment in that process of change came when we met with our financial planner last spring. We were going through our retirement goals (yes, it's that time of life,) and he went through the list of dreams most people have. But none of those normal goals got to the heart of what we have been dreaming of for years.

We don't want to go on lovely cruises, or take a trip around the world.

We don't want to build a dream home in some exotic location like Florida or Hawaii.

We don't want to try to come up with new hobbies to fill our time.

And we certainly don't want to sit back and do nothing!

Except when we've reached the end of the
trail in Custer State Park!

No. When we think about retirement, we think about doing pretty much what we're doing now, but at a different elevation.

You see, when our financial adviser asked what our retirement dream was, we hesitated. Not because we weren't sure what it was, but because it has been such a long-held dream...could we really achieve it? Could it be?

His response was: Why not?

So we've started searching for that little place. A cabin in the woods. A spot in the Hills. Land. Trees. Wildlife. Stars. Quiet.

A place we can share with friends and family. A place that will fill our days with the joyful pleasure of God's creation.

This poem sums it up quite nicely:

A Little Home

by Florence Bone

God send us a little home;

To come back to when we roam.

Wooden floors and fluted tiles;

Wide windows, a view for miles.

Red firelight and deep chairs;

Small white beds upstairs.

Great talk in little nooks;

soft colors, rows of books.

One picture on each wall;

not many things at all.

God send us a little ground;

Tall trees stand 'round.

Homely flowers in fertile sod;

Over head, thy stars, O God.

God bless thee when winds blow;

Our home and all we know.

When work gets toilsome, life's pressures mount, and things don't seem to be going the way I thought they would...when I start wondering why do I do what I do?

That's when I read this little poem again, and remember that there is a goal and a plan...in God's way and in God's time.

Have you thought about what you do? Why do you go to work each day? What goals do you have for your future? What are you working toward?

Share them here, if you'd like to!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.