30 in my 30's: #27 and how I've changed

So, when I turned thirty-one I compiled a list of things I'd hoped to accomplish in my thirties. 

Ironic how things work out sometimes because very shortly after I made this list and published it for all the world to see (and by that I mean the handful of faithful blog followers I've somehow convinced to come back to my blog on a regular basis, my mom, and the umpteen billion people who flock to my cake batter dip recipe) that God opened my eyes and I fell head-over-heels in love with Africa and all that that entails.

 And thus comes my problem: today when I look at my list, I'm kinda embarrassed. 

Where were my priorities? 

Were these things really the best I could come up with 

in terms of what I wanted to accomplish in a decade of my life? 

Seriously, tans and good fitting jeans were the best I could come up with? 

So, now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 I could change my list, updating it to align with who I am today and where my priorities lie. 

OR, I could leave it as a reminder of who I was and hope to never be again. 

It's not that I was terrible or awful or a heathen, but I was not living the life God wanted for me.

 I wasn't putting Him and His desires about my own. 

I wasn't living to serve Him and others. 

To sum it up in one heavy word, I was selfish.

 So, in an effort to both remind myself of who I was and hope to never be again AND challenge myself to live a life I can be proud of, I won't change it.

 However, I will perhaps put a new spin on it, starting with #27:  

Write something and have it published.  

Writing has always been something I've loved to do. However, my goals in writing have changed.

 I'm no longer writing simply with the hopes of entertaining or wooing others with my way with words. Instead, when I write these days it's with the hopes of inspiring others to step out of their comfort zones in an attempt to be the best versions of themselves. So, while my initial intention when making this one of my goals was to write something funny and creative and clever (that was also probably relatively meaningless), I am so very happy that God had other plans. 

And thus, I give you my published piece: 

See that fuzzy girl to the far right? That's me. 

And see that paragraph under the picture? 

I wrote that. 

This is the Noonday lookbook that we have used this past season to not only market the current Noonday Collection but also to help us advocate for our artisans and inform women across the country that their purchases matter and that even something that seems small, like buying a new swanky pair of earrings, can make a difference in the life of another. 

In it, I talk about how God has given me a desire to serve others, especially those in Africa. 

It's not what I intended when I set this goal for myself. 

No one will even probably remember that it was written, except for my mom, of course (hi, Mom). 

It's not at all what I had planned when I wrote set this goal. 

No, it's much, much better. 

Because, if nothing else, God is using this season in my life to teach me time and time again

 this one simple lesson: 

It's 

not

 about

 me. 

And that, my friends, is a goal worth investing in for a decade.