GOALS Setting.

All too soon, OASIS 2014, here in Wahlwiller is getting to a close; when participants, facilitators and other members will miss one another in this exciting and spirit filled encounter. Indeed, it had been an encounter that provided a welcome rest, a place to stop, to nourish the body and soul and to renew strength and insight for the way forward. Personally, I have the belief that my life as a religious is in fact a spiritual journey. And to quote Bro. Martinus Handoko, the General Superior in his opening address, “Without  spiritual motivation we will consider religious life as an upnormal  way of living.”

Today,Wednesday 17th December,2014, we were gathered together on the topic, ‘Becoming the person I always want to be and designing the life I always want to have’. To begin this topic for the last but second day of this encounter, our Indonesian Brothers led us in a morning prayer on a theme: “To be a good sower and a seed.” Thus, we were gathered to destribute the seed of love among ourselves. This theme also prepared us to remain faithful and joyful to do the will of God for his glory and also for the good of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Before Bro. Guido Sukarman, the presenter,  started the topic for the day, he made a brief thematic presentation on the days gone by in the encounter. These themes are;

1. “I will take you away from among the nations.....”

2. “I will sprinkle clean water over you....’

3. “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit...”

4. “I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes”

5. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son...”

After this, the topic for the day ( as quoted above) was effectively handled by Bro. Guido Sukarman. According to him the topic could also be expressed as “Goals Setting”. He said becoming aware of God’s dream and his will of love means letting God’s dream be materialised. Bro Guido continued to say that, when we realise God’s dream, it becomes the time for us to review our life to see how the dream has been a reality; and that it is also in the review of our life that we realise the greatness of God. He stressed that, in acknowledging the greatness of God we become grateful to him for the aboundenment. In this regards, one begin to take action to materialise the achievement conceived.

At this point we were given some questions to test our quest in setting the goals for our life. Some of the questions are as follows:

1. Within the next 24-28 hours, what will you do to put at least one of your goals into actions? What one step will you take?

2. Identify what you need to do the next 30 days to put some of your goals into actions. What will you do?

3. Write what will happen if you don’t stay committed and accomplish your goals. How are you going to acknowledge and celebrate the small achievements along the way in reaching your big goals?

Besides these questions which centred on personal goals for the individuals, there were also some questions that involved us to be in groups according to our provinces for discussing. Some of these questions were also as follows:

1.  How are you going to involve your community members, friends, etc and other people so as to make you more accountable and to find support and encouragement?

2. How are you going to find more inputs and information that will support you on you to meeting your goals?

We were also required to share our expectations after this encounter with the General Council. Some of the shared expectations were;

1. The Ggeneral Ccouncil (GC) could provide spiritual reading and inspirational materials to the provinces for brothers to continue to deepen their spiritual life.

2. The GC could publicize the programs of activities at the end of each encounter so as to evaluate as well as motivate participants.

3. The GC was also expected to create a website which would focus particular attention on issues from OASIS.

4. The GC could financially support provinces to form spiritual movement in the provinces let alone at the General Province.

5. it was also the expectation of the participants that The GC could also make a small booklet out of each encounter. This would make it easier for one to get acces to inputs from the participants.

Now, giving further attention on the individual/personal goals setting so as to make them  sustainable, it was emphasised that there needed to be what was termed the Power of focus.This was explained to mean that we needed to make visualization in the achievemeet  of the goals. We are to prepare a personal visualization board with notable items such as pictures, which may remind us of all our goals. To that effort we were each  asked to write our goals after this encounter which in another dimention termed a Covenant between us and God.  This exrcise of writing a covenant is an act of faith and committment which each participant was required to write. In this regard we were empowered and encouraged to let our life be one of movement torwards greatness and extraordinary accomplishment. Our life should be an inspiration and achievement to others to follow.

To sum up on this note, Bro. Guido fervently sounded that ‘we may become all that we intend to be and go out and live the life we were meant to be - “Fully Alive, Truly Human”’

 In the end, we concluded the day with an evening prayer at 6:40pm.

Bro. Amatus Taalo ( Ghana)