A Journey Into Intentional Living

                Well, I’m at that phase of the holiday season where I am starting to pack up all of the Christmas decorations, getting rid of all the uneaten Christmas goodies, and putting away beloved ornaments for another year.  It’s in the single digits in Wyoming today and so I am enjoying a cozy fire, a plate of Swedish Kringler, and a cup of coffee while taking some time to think back over this Christmas, and actually thinking over the entire year.  I’ve been remembering the blessings, the pain, the disappointments and the victories of 2014.  This is also the time when I begin thinking about the New Year, wondering what 2015 holds in store for me and my little family…..and I have been contemplating that sometimes loved and often hated tradition of making resolutions.  I don’t know about you, but making New Year’s resolutions ultimately ends up overwhelming and discouraging me rather than motivating me to have a better, healthier, happier year than the last.  There’s too much that I’d like to change, improve on, new things to try or bad habits to let go of.  Are you with me?  Am I the only one who struggles with making resolutions?  I start trying to figure out what my New Year’s Resolution is going to be and before I know it I have so many to pick from that I just throw my hands up in the air and give up before I even verbalize what my resolutions are!  Or I go ahead and make one or two and within a month have completely given up or forgotten what I had resolved to do in the first place!

                No, New Year’s Resolutions are not my favorite…..and yet……I love a clean slate, a fresh page, a new start.  And I really do love what is behind the meaning of making New Year’s resolutions; the meaning of resolution is: “a firm decision to do or not to do something.”  I’ve tried for a few years now to figure out a way to make resolutions without really making a “New Year’s Resolution”; how to take advantage of the newness of the New Year, of resolving to do or not do something, without being unrealistic in what that is, as well as not losing steam in my resolve one or two months into the year!  In all of my soul searching, praying and thinking about this I have ultimately come up with one resolution for 2015…..the resolution of intentional living....but this one resolution leads to so many more areas in my life that I want to make a firm decision about living with intention or purpose…..12 different areas in my life that I feel God is drawing my attention to live with intention; areas that I need to either completely change, shift in a different direction or areas where I need to just keep on keeping on!  The opposite of “intentional” is “accidental”…..I would so much rather live by intention than to live by accident!

                I began thinking of this idea of intentional living this time last year; and have been thinking about what aspects in my life I would like to live with more intention and purpose since then.  I want to invite you to go on this journey with me; each month I will focus on a different area that I have chosen and share my thoughts, feelings and experiences with you.  It may just be one post a month dedicated to intentional living in that certain area or it may take a few different posts depending on what subject I’m covering!  These 12 disciplines in my life are places where I feel God is drawing my attention to live with meaning, intention and purpose; you may have areas in your life that are completely different.  If so please share them with me, I’d love to hear about your journey as well!

                The 12 areas in my life that I have chosen to live intentionally for 2015 are:

1.)    Being intentional in my faith and relationship with God

2.)    Being intentional in my marriage

3.)    Being intentional in my role as a mother

4.)    Being intentional in my attitude towards food

5.)    Being intentional about physical exercise

6.)    Being intentional with my finances

7.)    Being intentional with my thoughts

8.)    Being intentional with my relationships

9.)    Being intentional with my time

10.)  Being intentional with my words

11.)  Being intentional about my responsibilities and jobs

12.)  Being intentional about my calling, gifts and talents

 
 My hope is that by dividing this resolution up into 12 different areas, I will spend an entire year focused on living with intention and purpose.  The definition of intentional is “something done on purpose or deliberately.”  See, that’s the key for me; I want to live deliberately and on purpose!  I want to thrive, not just survive.  I’m tired of feeling like I am just barely scraping by day in and day out…..spending a lot of my days low on energy, motivation, joy and intent.  Like so many of you out there, I want a full and abundant life.  One of my favorite verses is John 10:10 where Jesus tries to explain to the Pharisees who He is and why He has come.  He tells them “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  Jesus came to give us full and abundant lives; He doesn’t want us to just “get by”, going through the motions of our days, doing what needs to be done but no more than that…..living flat, dry and intentionless lives. I think that especially for those of us who are stay-at-home-moms or ranch wives that work at home with our husbands, the drudgery of our days takes out the intention and purpose that God wants us to live with.  I want to resolve to change that.

                So, I invite you to go on this journey of intentional living with me; commit, not to making another New Year’s resolution that will leave you overwhelmed and disappointed, but instead commit to living the next 12 months with the intention and purpose that God intended for you to have.  And I want to wish you all a Happy New Year……No more than just “happy”…..I want to wish you a joy-filled, abundant and full 2015, a year that is lived with meaning and purpose to the glory of God!!