all other goals bow down to this

I have resisted making "new year's resolutions" for as long as I can remember.  This is not becuase of some strong conviction or belief.  It is simply because I am a recovering perfectionist who hates failure.  So instead, I have goals, but they are not new for the new year--they are a perpetual list that is always growing and shrinking (as things get done) and changing. 

Anyway, tonight I was doing a 15 minute room rescue of my living room (somehow the "bathroom slippers" keep ending up in the middle of my living room--oh the joys of having a puppy) while I was listening to the CD Here I am to Worship, when I heard Wendy O'Connell singing "Above All Else" written by Vicky Beeching.  The words caught my attention and sent me to my computer to search for the lyrics:

Jesus my passion in life is to know You
May all other goals bow down to
This journey of loving You more

Jesus You've showered Your goodness on me
Given Your gifts so freely
But there's one thing I'm longing for

Hear my heart's cry
And my prayer for this life

Above all else
Above all else
Above all else
Give me Yourself

This song sums up my heart's desire . . . my longing for 2006:  that all my other goals bow down to the journey of knowing and loving Jesus more.  I also like the way she pleads with Him to give her Himself. 

I have spent most of my life mistakenly believing that I had to "earn God."  If I was good enough, if I prayed well, if I studied my Bible right, then He would reveal Himself to me.  Oh how wrong I was!  Actually, this thinking robbed me of the joy only those redeemed by grace can experience.

Jesus, this song verbalizes my heart's cry.  I want to know you better.  I want to love you more.  I want to be intimate with You, the lover of my soul.  Give me Yourself.  Help me to make all other goals I set this year bow to this desire.  And, I thank You that I do not have to earn You--that You freely give Yourself.  I love you, Lord.