Being Intentional

These words are coming out of my mouth lately. I feel something inside me whispering, "live life intentionally." My advice to others has been that we need to be intentional. As I think about my life, I see how often times I can be lazy. I let one day pass into the next without even thinking about it. My goal is to not let life slip by without me even noticing, growing or changing. Following are areas where I am going to work on being intentional and goals for myself.

1. In my relationship with God
I will get up ten minutes earlier to get ready and then have time to pray and ready my Bible. I know by doing this, it will put my focus in the right place for the day. Another idea just popped into my head. I will write down one meaningful verse I read that day on a note card and meditate on it through the day. I struggle so much with doing this in the morning and often times, when I do take that time to spend with God, I have a horrible day. I have to remember that Satan is trying to distract me and make me think I don't need this time with God. I do know that spending time with the Lord is more important than how I feel that day. It is about spending time with the ONE I love most and building a relationship with him. Building relationships take time and sacrifice and I need to be intentional to make it happen.


2. In my relationship with my children
The other day I was out walking with my kids. We were headed to the post office and then back home again. I had my goal of getting there and back again in the front of my mind. As we were walking along, Anna stopped and was smelling some flowers off the side of the sidewalk. After a second, I was about to call her to come, but I stopped. I don't want my children rush through life just to get the next task accomplished and I don't want that for myself either. Sometimes, I need to just intentionally stop and smell the flowers with my kids and agree that they do smell, "nummy."

3. In my relationship with my friends
I have a big family and it takes quite a bit of work to keep our household running and that's a fact. I do have time, though, to keep in touch with my friends. I so often get caught up in our routine that I neglect getting together with friends or even calling them. My life has been blessed with some great friends who have greatly enriched my life. The same as with my relationship with God, my relationship with my friends won't grow if I'm not intentional about spending time with them. I need to be intentional about setting dates for play dates, girls night outs, family dinners, BBQ's, etc.

Life passes too quickly for me to just live my life to do my own thing each day. I want my life to be pleasing to God. By being intentional in these three areas, I am living out Christ's greatest commandment...Loving God and loving others.

Colossians 3: 23
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will recieve an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord you are serving."