Well, tomorrow we'll be heading up to Victoria BC. It's our anniversary (22 years). It's also time for that 8k--the one I've been training for (I know, 8k doesn't sound like a big deal, but I haven't been running all that long).

Anyway, this morning as I went out for my last easy run, I was thinking about how it all comes down to the race. All the preparation, all the training it's all over; now it's time to run the race. There are a lot of thoughts and feelings that go along with that: Did I do enough? How will I do? What if I don't meet my expectations or goals? And I'm sure there are others I can't think of right now. But the point is, now it's time to perform.

You know, sometimes I think preparation is easier--training is easier--it certainly is safer. When you train you don't have to worry about the results so much. A ten minute mile or a seven minute mile, it doesn't really matter. But in a race... well, now that's a different story. The race is a measure of your performance. It's a test of how well the training went. And there's no hiding when race day comes.

And really, that's a good thing. It gives some accountability. I need accountability--we all do. With the race always dangling out there as the goal, I can get up and head out for a run when it's raining. With the race staring me in the face, I can push through that last lap of a tempo run. Goals do that for us. They build accountability.

Maybe that's why all too often spiritual growth is stunted--we have no accountability. Now I'm not necessarily talking about having someone checking up with us on our prayer life. I'm thinking more in terms of the accountability that goals create. I don't know if we do that enough with our spiritual life.

It's kind of like all our prayer, Bible reading, church going is all about the training. We just keep doing it. And it's great. We certainly gain from it. We certainly grow from it. But it lacks the focused growth that a goal can produce. When I train for a race, I am focused. Everything I do is about my performance in that race. The type of runs I do, the foods I eat (and don't eat), everything prepares me for that particular race.

What would happen to our spiritual growth if we were to do that same sort of thing? I mean, what if we were to sit down with a pastor, a mentor, a spouse, and say, "Here are my spiritual goals for this year"? For one thing, I think it would make us take a much closer look at where we are in our relationship with God, and where we need to be. The other thing I think it would do is give us a more focused application and use of the spiritual disciplines.

You see, right now I think we go about things a bit backwards. We do "this," "this," and "this," and expect "that" to happen. But that would be like saying I'm going to run 3 miles on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 6 weeks I expect to be able to run a marathon. It's not going to happen. What I need to do is to determine that I want "This" to happen in my life, so I need to do "this, "that," and "that" in order to make it happen. Working from the goal to the disciplines make much more sense than doing it the other way around.

Anyway, I'll have to wait and see if I did enough to be ready for the race. Meanwhile though, I think I need to start working on developing some spiritual goals to fuel and focus my spiritual training.