Who benefits from your goals?

If one seeks personal recognition and another seeks peace among people, these two goals are not both reflective of God’s presence, for the goal of personal recognition is suited to the enhancement of the individual rather than the advancement of the whole. If you wish to truly recognize whether your goals in life are reflective of God, ask yourself who benefits by those goals. If those benefits are identified as focused on an individual or a select group of individuals at the expense of others, then those goals do not reflect the reality of God’s presence. Those goals that do reflect God enhance and affirm the value of all and affirm the value of everything that has been created.

Certainly, you do not go through your daily life questioning whether an action you contemplate will benefit the world, and we do not suggest that this be the criteria, but if it is a goal that indeed affirms life, affirms what is really important—that which has been created by God—then you are assured of its validity. Recognizing that validity, you could proceed with conviction, peace, and recognition that you are indeed doing what needs to be done.