Yesterday my church hosted an Operation Christmas Child packing party. Click here for more information about this from the official website. Basically, the way you participate in Operation Christmas Child is by packing a shoebox with gifts for either a girl or boy within a certain age bracket. This gift is then shipped to a child so that they have a gift to open on Christmas day. My experience with Operation Christmas Child was a little different because my friend Anna and I were in charge of planning an event centered around this called a “packing party” for our church.
It was daunting when my pastor told me that the goal he wanted was for our church was to fill 100 boxes. At $7 just to ship the box, that’s already $700 not including the cost of toys to fill the inside. To be honest, I didn’t really think we’d reach our goal but knew my pastor would not change his mind. So I said nothing and followed my rule for setting goals based on my Psychology of Learning course. Goals must be:
1. Difficult but attainable
2. Have a clear start and end point
3. Be Measurable
Surely everything I was ever taught told me set our goal at fifty boxes, and this was the goal I set in my head at first. This past Sunday, Anna and I went around with a sign up sheet and then sat down to see how many boxes people signed up for. The number came to fifty-four, and just when I thought I was right, something crazy happened. More people signed up for boxes and somehow, we reached our goal of 100 boxes.
I tried to do something to glorify God without allowing room for God to work. Sure, I could get 50 people to sign up for boxes, but how would that goal allow God to be gloried?
I was sitting in Chemistry class this past week when my professor explained that chemical formulas are like recipes. If you want double, double the formula, if you want triple, triple the formula. But I urge you to remember our God who breaks down every formula we make.
In this passage we see that Jesus was able to feed FIVE THOUSAND people with five loaves of bread and two fish. The formula does not add up, but it works.
This week I want to challenge you and ask, do your goals glorify God?