Aim High

We all have goals. We may not always meet our goals, but we all make them. In the next week or so, we will all make our annual New Year Resolutions. My advice for this year, is to aim high. Shoot for the moon. Don’t settle for just a little progress or you won’t succeed.

Timothy, my son, aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  In the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, and King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see.  To him be honor and eternal dominion.  Amen.

1^st Timothy 6.11-16

When we are baptized into Christ one of the prayers acknowledges the struggle to maintain our baptismal garment without stain. The prayer challenges us to not let anything stain the white garment. It doesn’t say, “just do what you can.”

You that through Holy Baptism have granted forgiveness of sins to this Your servant, bestowing on him (her) a life of regeneration: do You Yourself, Sovereign Master and Lord, be pleased that the Light of Your countenance evermore shine in his (her) heart; maintain the shield of his (her) faith against the plotting of enemies; preserve in him (her) the garment of incorruption, which he (she) has put on undefiled and unstained; preserve in him (her) the Seal of Your Grace, being gracious unto us, and unto him (her) according to the multitude of Your compassions. For glorified and blessed is Your all-honorable and majestic Name: of Father, and of Son, and of Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages.

Baptism Prayer of Ablution

Of course, the prayer acknowledges we can only succeed with God’s help. The chances are ‘pretty good’ that we will fall short and stain our garment. If we don’t aim high, the chances are better that it will be covered with filth.

In today’s reading Saint Paul was challenging Saint Timothy, and us through him, to not settle for just getting by in our faith journey. We made a pledge to God before the Church community, and we should be committed to our word. It won’t be easy, but it will be blessed.

Here’s the thing about goals. Too high, and we don’t even try. Too low, and we don’t bother for lack of accomplishment. But there is also something about goals we rarely think about. When we want to ‘stop’ something the goal must be to stop, not just slow down.

Nobody quits smoking by setting a goal of less smoking. Stay with me for a moment. If the goal is to quit smoking, then every time you have a cigarette, you fail and start over. If the goal is to smoke less, every cigarette is successful, and you never quit. Smoking is like sin.

If you want to quit, you must be committed to quitting. Nothing short of quitting is successful. That’s the goal. The strategy is different. The strategy considers momentary lapses and creates steps to succeed. Aim high, and the steps lead to heaven. Aim low and, well you get the point.

We must learn to aim high for heaven if we ever expect to ‘get’ there from here. The Church has the steps we need to succeed. The steps lead to heaven and only heaven. If we don’t aim high, the steps do us no good. The Church isn’t interested in less in. The Church wants no sin.

The Church knows we will fall, but the Church only knows through experience that we can only climb as high as our goals. So, in this coming New Year, aim high for heaven and let the Church steps lead you to success.