Honesty

SparkPeople Translation
Sometimes goals are just hard to achieve. Even if you have been actively working for improvement, the end can seem far away. Take a minute, however, and look around you. Many times, the path to that goal can be filled with beneficial side effects. Perhaps your goal was to lose weight, and although you are still trying to lose that last 10 pounds, a benefit you’ve gained is that you feel less tired during the day, with much more positive energy to exert. So instead of giving up, keep on pushing, for good is bound to come, even if it is from unexpected places. You learn amazing things along the way. Aim high, and enjoy the ride to the top.

My Interpretation
It takes perseverance to achieve a goals, no matter how hard we think it is to reach it. Nothing is easy in life, so you've got to keep plugging along to what you think is important to you. Joyce Meyer wrote a book entitled "Enjoying Where You Are, On The Way to Where You're Going." God just may want to give you a gift so don't be so focused on the goal line that you miss the scenery around you.

Happiness

SparkPeople Translation
Are you able to find inner peace? This is a difficult task for many of us since the world is so busy and often frantic around us. In order to maintain good personal health it is necessary to think about inner peace. Find ways to reflect on your life and accept the things you cannot change. Meditation and breathing exercises can often help you calm your body down and find inner peace. If you cannot be at peace with yourself, it will be hard to be at peace at all...remember this as you try to become a more peaceful person.

My Interpretation
Ah, the elusive 'happiness.' I agree with SparkPeople that inner peace is necessary. However, true peace can only be found in Jesus Christ. You can meditate and take deep, cleansing breaths until you're blue in the face, but if you're not meditating on the One that has your answer, you're wasting your time on temporary relief. As the serenity prayer says, we can be reasonably happy in this life, but extremely happy in the next with Him. Happiness is found within so long as Jesus is there.

Goals

SparkPeople Translation
Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve tried to plan everything? Do you get frustrated when your plans don’t work? Many times we try to plan every aspect of a project or vacation and when it doesn’t go exactly as we had planned it to go, we get angry or anxious. The next time you have a project to work on or an event to plan, try to make contingency plans. You might find that the ability to be flexible is an extremely important characteristic of a good leader.

My Interpretation
Well of course you get frustrated when your plans don't work. Who wants to be a failure? Who wants their high hopes of grandeur to come crashing down? We don't want to fail, but for some reason we do, time after time after time. Why? Because we forget to add provisions for life to interrupt our best laid plans. We also fail to seek advice on our plans. "Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances (Prov.11:14, Message). Sometimes, we need the opinions of others because they may be able to see us better than we can. Just make sure it's someone who has your best interests at heart.

Friendships

SparkPeople Translation
Our really great friends are the ones that help us celebrate our victories no matter how big or small. Evaluate yourself, are you someone who can give people the credit they are due or are you someone that needs to always be number one? Evaluate your friendships and acquaintances and try to spend more time with people who can help you live your purpose.

My Interpretation
I've always liked this quote. Probably because I've spent a lifetime looking for just this person - the one that can help me live my purpose. It has taken me a lifetime and a 350 mile move to find what I was looking for. From the Holy Spirit's promptings, I was able to fearlessly move to an uncertain future. But I knew it had to be better than the one I was leaving behind. You know what? It is. When I finally allowed God to direct my steps, He allowed me to glimpse His will for my life and it's what I've been waiting a lifetime for.

Dreams

SparkPeople Translation
Do you stop trying when you think you’ve reached your limit? Many people use “limitations” as a stop sign in their lives. It is important to know your limits because injury and burn out can be a product of going too far. But the flip side of the coin is that you should never use your limitations as an excuse. Everyone needs to learn to take a chance and try. If you never try you will never grow as an individual. Are you using the same limits that you set for yourself years ago? Think about the things you wish you could do. What’s stopping you? Are your personal limitations getting in the way of your life? If they are, maybe it’s time to set some new goals to help you overcome your limitations?

My Interpretation
Limits are usually reached with anger and an "I'm through! I can't do this anymore!" We, as human beings, can only go so far and then what? Then we can either let go of the reigns of our mess and ask God to pick them up or we can stand in front of that limit and retry to figure out how to fix it. The correct answer seems easy to make, but usually isn't. It would have been much easier to give them to Him in the first place, but better late than never. Why do we do that? Why do we always think we can take care of everything on our own? PRIDE! Proverbs 11:2 says "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." That wisdom is from God. We all have our limits, but if we begin the journey with God, our limits can come a lot closer to our goals than we ever thought possible.