The Trouble with Intentionality

Life has become hectic and helter-skelter:

                         

       Schedules tipped on their heads.  

                           Sickness has invaded.

                                         Snowstorms have rudely interrupted. 

I sigh, "So much for being intentional!",  then quickly correct myself.

I choose to be intentional, not necessarily productive.   

I have little control over snowstorms and sickness .   But I do have control over how I handle myself and minister to my family in each circumstance.  Which is precisely why I choose "intentional."

Because the floor may still be dirty, but my conscience can be clean.   

My to-do list may be undone, but my child's heart needs met.  

My cooking may not be gourmet, but my family's soul can be "made fat" with the Bread of Life.

So instead of ticking off a mental list of what has been accomplished by the end of the day, I ask myself:

1.  Have I been kind and deliberate in my responses to daughter today?

2.  Have I invested in her life for eternity today?

3.  Have I communicated love and respect for my husband today?

4.  Have I used the time I had to myself wisely, for Kingdom purposes, and not selfishly or lazily?

The trouble with intentionality is that these questions are not as easily answered as a simple to-do list. They require more heart-searching and soul-deep honesty than is comfortable. Sometimes I'd rather look at the check-list than at the heart-list.

But at the end of my life, my Lord won't ask me how clean my house was or how creative my meals were or how artistic my child's handicraft was.   I'm convinced that leading a life of intention is the secret to hearing the longed-for words that every Christian desires one day to hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant." 

Ironically, living with intention usually means doing the mundane, daily tasks.  However, being intentional gives meaning to the task.  

It makes worship of our work. 

It brings inspiration to our interactions.

Being intentional means I need Grace -- so much Grace.  I need supernatural Grace because I am not intentional.  I would rather be lazy and take the easy way out.  

The trouble with being intentional is that it's impossible to do without God.  And therein lies the Glory of intentionality.  It requires complete reliance on God's Grace and enabling power.  So today, tomorrow, and this year, I go in Grace, endeavoring to do the impossible, for His Glory.

Word of the Year: Intentional

Challenged by one friend to simply pick a word, instead of making resolutions, I've settled on the word intentional.  Truth be told, it's been my mantra of late.  So why not make it intentional and select it intentionally for 2015?  (I'm going to be sick of the word before the year is barely begun if I keep using it this way...) 

Why intentional?  

Because it streamlines everything.  

It pulls me back to why I do what I do.  

It sifts the chaff of life and leaves the eternal.  

It strikes out gray areas. 

Intentional holds me accountable to my purpose in life -- to glorify God.  If what I do, what I say, and what I think doesn't accomplish the purpose of glorifying Him, then it's chaff.  It's out.  Sounds simple, right?  I like that.  Simple.  Back to the basics.  Back to living with intention.

As I contemplate how living intentionally will affect my day-to-day, I divide my life into categories -- categories reflected in the subtitle of this blog:  Marriage, Motherhood, and Ministry.  (I will add "Personal" to these categories because I cannot minister, mother or marry well without getting God and me right!) In the coming days, I plan to blog the list of intentional questions I am going to ask myself in each area.  (Perhaps you'll find these questions useful, too!)

So that I might say with the Apostle Paul:
"according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing shall I be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." Philippians 1:20

5's and 10's

For us, 2015 begins the year of the 10's to culminate in our 10 year wedding anniversary in 2016. Our romance began in 2005.  Consequently, I've got a wealth of yet-to-be-written blogs related to reminiscing about our romance.  I've told our story before, so this year of blogs won't be a complete re-telling, but instead will be a reflection and review of the golden decade that has been our life together.

From Christmas of 2005 - Christmas of 2014, we've been together for 10 Christmases.  That first Christmas 2005, we were engaged but didn't actually spend Christmas together.  I remember the angst of separation the most about that Christmas (read more about that here).  Living and working on the same campus meant that our friendship and dating journey had been without any real time apart prior to that Christmas.  As a result, I felt the week or so apart all the more sharply. For one who was used to and even at times preferred being alone, the shock to the pain of separation confirmed that he was my other half, that we were meant to be together for life.  That deep certainty hasn't changed over the past 10 Christmases.

Another milestone for this Christmas is that it's the 5 year mark of having a child at Christmas. We experienced 5 Christmases as a couple pre-baby, and now 5 Christmases with Jacie. Definitely, Christmas with a child is a lot more fun. The wide-eyed wonder gets better with every year, and this year was the best by far.  At four years old, Jacie really anticipates the holiday, gets into the Advent celebration, articulates the Bible truths well, and expresses joy and appreciation for gifts in a most eloquent way.

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2014

Our journey is just beginning.  10 years is significant, but still a start.  My prayer is that the foundation that has been laid over the past decade be one that holds strong and true in the decades to follow.