Keeping Your Eyes on the Target
Thump! The first arrow and then succeeding arrows all hit the target with the sound of “Thump”. While all of the arrows shot by the bowmen hit the target, none hit the bull’s eye. Despite success in hitting the target, a look of disappointment crossed the bowmen’s faces as they concluded their shooting. Achieving one’s objectives is central to man’s ability to manage his life and when one’s objectives are not achieved, there is disappointment and occasionally dejection.
Whether it is in sports, business, or life in general careful selection of one’s objectives is decisive. It is impossible to achieve success in any endeavor unless one has a clear vision of the goal one wants to achieve. Thus it is critical for every individual to visualize one’s goals and objectives in life. Then after prioritizing the goals and determining what one must do to achieve them, keeping one’s eyes firmly focused on the desired outcome is essential to any success. One cannot take one’s eyes off the target and expect to hit a bull’s eye.
Athletes, business leaders, politicians, and others who are successful are noted for the unfailing pursuit of their goals. They possess an unwillingness to let their own shortcomings or the opposition of others frustrate them in their pursuit of a goal. Yet other excellent athletes and intelligent business people often fail to achieve their goals due to their own lack of total commitment or because obstacles or opposition, which they were unwilling or unable to challenge, appeared along the way. They succumbed to the temptation to reduce their goals in order to avoid the difficulties placed in their paths as they pursued more lofty goals. They failed to keep their eyes resolutely sighted on their real target and substituted no clear goal or a lesser target. Thus they achieved very little. No target, no commitment, no success!
All of us set targets throughout our lives; targets for education, athletics, business, marriage, family, economics, and others. Unfortunately few have clearly visualized the image of their target. Thus few actually hit a bull’s eye in many of their targets. Few actually obtain their desired end, since they have not clearly identified it.
As we proceed through life, of course we consider our personal and professional goals and pursue them according to the clarity of our vision and the determination to achieve them. However, there is one goal that is often neglected by many people; it is the goal for one’s existence after death. Let us assume that there is a life after death for humans; a life that is real and substantial…and eternal. Why do so many people fail to seriously consider the implications of such a life? Why do they not set goals by which they can visualize what the next life might be and how they may succeed in enjoying that life? People spend endless hours and days pursuing earthly, present goals; thrusting themselves into endless pursuit of temporary benefits, yet fail to search for the goal of true eternal happiness.
Even when a person does not believe in God or an afterlife, there always exists that uneasy feeling of “Is that all there is?” when one contemplates each realized goal. The athlete who becomes a highly admired champion enjoys the jubilation of success, only to seek another championship, and another, realizing that, no matter the number of championships he has secured, the fulfillment, as enthralling as it is, is only temporary. “Is this all there is?” Similarly, the businessman or the politician who reach great heights of success, wealth, fame, and admiration will eventually ask the same question. “Is this all there is?” Thus many individuals who reach the pinnacles of success lament that their fulfillment is never completely satisfying.
The question then, “Is man always to be frustrated in his attempt to be truly fulfilled? Will he always be incomplete and frustrated by being unable to be totally satisfied at any time? Yet man is a goal oriented being; reason dictates that man can eventually be totally fulfilled. Is it true that man will only be truly fulfilled and be able to exclaim, “this is all there is,” when he meets and is united with his creator? Man has relentlessly searched for complete fulfillment in this life….without success. Isn’t it time for man to look for and shoot for the bulls eye that is GOD in which he will achieve total fulfillment he desperately craves?