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Goals for the Day

Al Weir, MD

January 22, 2019
Goals for the Day Al Weir, MD January 22, 2019

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23, NIV 1984).

Dr. Dave Hafer is a retired maxillofacial surgeon in Montana. He and his wife Bobbie took up painting to fill the Montana winters. They are both incredibly talented and love their new avocation. They love it so much that Dave took it to the Lord and asked Him, “Don’t let this be just for us. Show us how to use it for your glory.” And they have, repeatedly auctioning their work to raise funds for Christian ministries. Last year when they attended a conference for Christian women physicians, an attendee asked him, “Would you consider letting me commission you to do a painting?” Dave replied, “I guess I can do that. What did you have in mind?” The physician answered, “I want a picture of heaven. I want to place it on my office wall so that every morning when I arrive for work, I am reminded of my goal for the day.”

What is your goal for the day when you show up at work each morning or evening? Do you have earth goals or heaven goals?

C.S. Lewis said, “Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth ‘thrown in;’ aim at Earth, and you get neither.”

Most days, when I walk into my office at 7 a.m., my goal is very fixed on earth. I have patients to see, meetings to make, business to complete, home to get back to. The goals I set for myself could be completed successfully even if there were no heaven.

What if I instead chose my goals for the day with a keen awareness that heaven is real, that Christ came to get us there, and that every patient, every meeting and every business decision has eternal significance?

This physician above commissioned a painting to remind her of the truth. I have placed a gold cross on my lapel. Dr. Walt Larimore placed a sticker on every chart, WIGD (What is God Doing?) What step can you take to help you envision and achieve your goal for each day as you pursue God’s mission for your life?

Dear Father,
Help me begin and continue each day with the keen awareness that my work has eternal significance.
Amen

Al Weir, MD

Al Weir, MD

After leaving academic medicine, Dr. Weir served in private practice at the West Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee from 1991-2005 before joining the CMDA staff as Vice President of Campus & Community Ministries where he served for three years from 2005-2008. He is presently Professor of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Program Director for the Hematology/Oncology fellowship program. He is also President of Albanian Health Fund, an educational ministry to Albania where he has been serving for 20 years. He is the author of two books: When Your Doctor Has Bad News and Practice by the Book. Dr. Weir’s work has also been published in many medical journals and other publications. Al and his wife Becky live in Memphis, Tennessee, and they have three children and three grandchildren. Dr. Weir is currently serving on CMDA's Board of Trustees.