Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Being Intentional: 6 week Challenge


Intentional is my new favorite word lately. You can ask my husband. He might even be sick of this word. I feel like I am being challenged to be intentional in every area of my life. One quote I have always heard is "Failing to plan is planning to fail." This always seemed so cliche to me, and I didn't really take it seriously. But I am coming to realize that things in life do not just happen. You don't just become more godly, more content, more forgiving, more loving. And I have also come to realize that you don't just attain victory in a certain area in your life, and then you have arrived forevermore. People who are successful in any area of life are people who are committed to something, stick with it, and don't forget to keep it in view. To work hard at it. To keep pressing forward.
You can't just get to your weight goal, and then stop working hard. You can't just overcome a sinful habit, and then let your guard down. You can't just marry the man of your dreams, and then hope you have a perfect marriage. We must always be striving, always moving forward, always planning to succeed.
An area I have been challenged in especially is the area of forgiveness. Another area is contentment. And worry/faith. These areas have been derived from a bible study I have been a part where we are studying the book Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. It just blew my mind when she talked about giving things over to God, day by day, moment by moment. Intentionally walking with God. When we start worrying again, or taking back our forgiveness, or being discontent with our circumstances, we must go back to God, give these things over to Him again, and ask forgiveness. It is a journey. We don't just learn to be gentle, and then never struggle with being harsh again. We must walk in love, daily choosing to love people even when we don't feel like it.
So over the next 6 weeks, I will be posting weekly on this area of being intentional, challenging you all each week in a specific area, and challenging myself, of course!! I need to be reminded to choose to work towards certain things in my life, or else they will never happen. Life will get too busy. I will get to the end of my day and check off my to-do list, but not be any more gentle, loving, kind, not having dealt with a broken relationship, hoping my marriage coasts along without any work, and wondering why I haven't made any progress.
So, who's with me? If anyone wants to get on the bandwagon with me towards more intentional living, then be committed to these next few weeks where we will take six areas, our relationship with God, our health, the organization of our homes, parenting, marriage, and our relationships, and focus on how we can set realistic goals to make these areas more of a priority. As stay at home moms (which I know you all aren't, but take what you can from each area!!), it's really, really easy to be unintentional by default. We are tired. We are drained. We can never get anything done. But I want to rise above and determine to focus on the important areas of my life, and try to thrive in them, instead of just survive.
If you are interested in this 6 week challenge, then leave a comment saying "I'm in!!" And in the following weeks I would challenge you to comment or blog (and then leave a comment linking us to your blog) about what specific thing you are doing to work in that specific area. I'm excited!! I hope this will give you a little insight as I research, pray, and read over my blog posts, and hopefully challenge us towards more intentional living. Let us draw together in community and accountability!
First area to be tackled: Our relationship with God. Post coming soon :)

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14

3 comments:

  1. When I wrote about my mom and what a great mom she is, I found myself coming back to the word intentional again and again. She was a very intentional mother, and planned everything. I learned from that. On the other hand, as a teenager I just wished she'd be spontaneous and relaxed and let go of the goals more often! I guess it's always about balance. :)My dad's goofiness was the perfect foil to my mom's planned intentionality.

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  2. My goal is to be intentional with all those things too, but I agree with Kacie...intentional goofiness is important for relationship building too. I am going to try to keep up with your journey to intentionality!

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  3. I'm definitely with you guys, I'm not for a rigid, scheduled life with no spontaneity. In fact, our life would be more characterized by being spontaneous and fun than rigid and scheduled. Which is why I am striving to be more intentional and set goals towards growth in my spiritual life, physical health, etc. so that I don't neglect these areas because of other "to-do's." I'm just advocating making the important things more of a priority so they don't get left behind. I'm striving towards growth, keeping my eyes on Jesus, and hopefully seeing myself becoming more like Christ as I grow in other areas as well. I hope this post didn't come across as striving towards a more rigid routine or controlled living! Far from it! I hope this clears things up!

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