The Intentional Life

For the last 8 years we have taken the money that we would have used to pay for Christmas cards, pictures, and postage and put that money towards supporting a mission organization. We've given to a few different places:  World Vision to buy a goat and a few chickens, and even a cow for a family in poverty,  Lifesong for Orphans to help buy tin roofs for single mothers' homes in Zambia, and  Voice of the Martyrs to send Christmas gifts and bring encouragement to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters who live under persecution in the 10/40 window. We aren't telling you all this so that the light can shine on us. Rather, we share this with you so that others may see the Light that inspires us to give of ourselves. We can only give because He first gave to us. "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify YOUR FATHER in heaven." Summary of Matthew 5:16     As my friend Carey says, "Our arro

Home. It can take on so many names. Sanctuary, castle, dwelling, landing place, residence, abode, hideout, hangout, digs, shelter, address. My guess is that each one of those words brought a different image or feeling to mind. And some of those you would never have thought to call your home. If your word isn't on that list, what word would you use to call it by another name? In order to get where you are going, you have to have a plan, a goal, and you kinda need to know your destination.  It may change along the way, but you need to start with a destination to even know which direction to begin. I'm drawing the parallel between that and having an idea of what you want your home to be.  It doesn't just happen. To set up your home to be _________ (fill in the blank), then you need to start out with a goal, a destination.  I'm not saying it may not change along the way, but you need to at least have a place to start. About a year ago I began hosti

It makes me kinda sad that I've fallen off with posting my monthly lookbacks. Now that I don't have any for the last several months (eep! maybe a year!?) I'm realizing how much I enjoy having these to look back through and remember where we were, how we've grown, and what things we continue to have to work on. So, instead of sitting here beating myself up, which I am prone to do, I will choose instead to just start again.  And here we are with March 2019. It was the month of basketball if there ever was one. Between College March Madness, Owen's basketball practice and games, and our high school winning (WINNING!) the State Championship, the whole month felt like it revolved around b-ball. Like true Hoosiers. Quite a few other things were done in the midst of it and we all looked forward to the end of the month where Spring Break was patiently waiting for us. There are days I'm digging my heels in, trying to slow down time, and others I

  Thoughts. That inner critic. Some of you may know who I am talking about.  That voice that continues to bring up the things that you could be doing better. That you failed at. It seems to follow you around relentlessly.  If you don't have that inner critic berating you on a daily basis, I'm guessing you have a close friend or family member who does.  It's seems to be louder in some types of personalities versus others. I'm one of those people. In every circumstance. In every event. In every situation. There is this inner critic that points out how I could have done it better.  If you struggle with this voice, you can attest to the truth that this can be exhausting. And defeating. So what do we do?  And if we don't struggle with this, how can we help those who do? You'll see this many times woven throughout these Intentional Living posts:  fight it with Truth. This verse was running through my head this morning and I felt it so fittin

  Heart. For those who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, this is a very special week. And I love how God orchestrated that this was the week that "Heart" was scheduled to be discussed. I just go down the list each week, and Heart was up next and so here we are. Easter. We can show up on Sunday, dressed in our Easter finest, ready to celebrate Jesus and his Resurrection. But we will get so much more out of it if we are intentionally preparing our hearts as we walk through this week. One thing we do in our house is prepare and celebrate the Passover, or Seder meal, on the Thursday of Easter week. However, it's done a little differently than the Passover of the Old Testament, because we now KNOW the Passover Lamb and the Reason that the whole meal was pointing to. We started doing this a few years back with our kids and it has made the Easter week even more meaningful and real in our lives.  I'll give a quick synopsis if you would like to incor

  Money. Show me your back account and I'll show you your heart. "Every person’s checkbook is a theological document. It tells you who and what they worship." -Billy Graham Show me your back account and I'll show you your heart. "Every person’s checkbook is a theological document. It tells you who and what they worship." -Billy Graham "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Jesus Said in different ways, but all pointing back to the same idea.  We can talk about what is important to us, but what we truly care about - our money follows quickly after. This week's topic of money always seems like such a tricky topic to broach. It can be a sensitive thing to discuss, each person in a different financial state than the other. But regardless of the state of your checkbook, this one thing remains.  We put our money where our priorities are. In America, we have the luxury of disposable income. We are jus

  Time. Breaks. Something we can all appreciate. Though, for some of us, it may be harder to take than others. For myself, resting is difficult.  My personality doesn't feel like I can truly rest until all. of. the. things. are done. I have a running list in my head of what needs to get done and I have to fight against the voice telling me I cannot rest until everything is done and in it's place. This can be exhausting, and something, the chance for a break completely passes me by. Or, maybe you are cut from a different cloth. You are always looking for the next break, the next fun thing, something to help you escape the reality that you are in. Or, you are one that the phrase "an object that stays at rest, remains at rest" Once you start taking that break, it can be hard to get going again. None of these personality "pulls" is terribly wrong in it's own right. But each one has something that we need to fight against, something

  Health. We all like the idea of being healthy. More energy. Less aches and pains. But the reality is, that we are part of a passing world.  Every thing on this earth is passing away in one degree or another. And if things are not intentionally maintained, it can deteriorate even faster. Science has come a long way in finding out how to make us live longer, healthier lives.  And it seems there are endless avenues to take to get to that healthy destination. But one thing all these avenues seem to have in common: what you put into your body matters . And choosing the right things to put into your body doesn't always come easily. We are prone to eat what what tastes good, what makes us feel good. What is convenient and easy. There are healthy things that fit all those parameters, believe it or not. But there are also just as many unhealthy things that fit into those categories, too. I am by far nowhere close to being an expert on healthy eating. Seeking

  Relationships. I'm sorry. Those words can go a long way. And sometimes they don't. Depending on the tone of voice, the size of the infraction, and even the heart of the recipient or giver of those words. Sometimes I'm sorry just isn't enough. For the longest time I saw the action of saying "I'm sorry" tied with the action of "expressing regret." If a person apologized but did not express regret along with it, the apology fell flat to me. Were they really sorry....? A couple years ago I came across the "5 Apology Languages," written by Gary Chapman, the same man who wrote "The 5 Love Languages." I took a short quiz and found out of the 5 different Apology Languages, my main one was "Expressing Regret."  Go figure. As I read through the 5 different types I realized that the apologies that have come from my closest family over the years really have been legit apologies....just in a differen

  Thoughts. Each time, as I sit to type up this weekly bit on intention, I come with a bit of hesitancy.  Who am I to tell you anything about intention? Who am I to speak into your life? There are so many things going on in each person's life. I feel inadequate to type something that could even possible reach each person where they are. I am inadequate. But I serve a God who is not.  So each week as I approach this writing with hesitancy, I also come boldly to my God, and ask that He speaks through me. My prayer is that the person who needs to read this this week, reads it. And for those that it falls a bit short, I pray you extend me grace and come back next week. Since this week is on thoughts, I thought that a great place to start would be with a few thoughts of my own, so there you are. A peek into this introverted, bent for perfectionism, realist mind. This past week, my daughter had a memory verse for school that stuck with me and I thought is was id

  Home. When we talked about creating an intentional home last time, we discussed coming up with words to describe your home, and then being intentional in helping it become just that. To help it seem more doable, let's break it up into rooms. Let's start in the bedroom, because, well, I enjoy naps. You know that feeling when you walk into a hotel room, like, a really nice hotel room?  Everything is in order, the bed is made and looks so comfy, the curtains are letting in a beautiful, filtered light. It's quiet, and you have that feel of relief as you know you have arrived at your destination. That is what I am intentionally going after when I think of my bedroom. There is so much out there demanding our attention, so much chaos and noise. A place of calm is much needed. And with the bedroom being a place of rest, this is a great space to play out that word: calm. For my bedroom, it looks like cleared off surfaces, no piles of laundry, no corners

Heart. Here we are. The final week of February. We have been through 7 full weeks of this Intentional Living series and now we are coming back to the Heart. Did you know that 80% of New Year's Resolutions are quit by February?  Well, if you have resolved to be more intentional in 2019, then, Congratulations! You have made it further than 80%. But, if you've found yourself stumbling a bit with this whole intentional thing, let me provide a different perspective...and a question. Perhaps you are focusing on reaching goals instead of being intentional. Ask yourself, "What is my heart's intent ?" Goal making is a valuable skill; it involves envisioning a future outcome in the world or in your behavior, then planning, applying discipline, and working hard to achieve it. You organize your time and energy based on your goals; they help provide direction for your life. Committing to and visualizing those goals may assist you in your efforts, but

Money. Even those who have plenty of it are looking for ways to obtain more of it. Even those are are content with what they have can struggle with the pull to want more in the bank. It's the number one thing that can pull our hearts away from God. It's the number one thing that couples fight about. It's the thing that causes people to lie awake at night, drives them to do illegal things, pulls content people to discontent. Not money in itself. Money is a tool. But the love of it. The love of money. The love of gaining more and more of it. The love of hoarding it and placing our safety and security in the amount that we have. It's a trap we can all fall into, in one form or another. But there is a way to combat this greed, this power that money can have over us. It's simple, but it's not always easy. Give. It. Away. I'm not talking about a dollar here or there. Though, it might have to start there. I'm talking about something r

Time. No matter your age, weight, gender, social class, or anything else that we humans choose to divide ourselves into, there is one thing that we all have the same amount of every single day. Time. 24 hours. We all have the same amount of it, but somehow we think we have less than others, and therefore think ours is more important.  We often live like our time is more precious and can hoard it and use it for ourselves. But, what we then choose to fill that time up with is far from sacred. I'm not pointing fingers. Except back at me. This was really the main reason I took on this challenge of an intentional year. Because I was seeing that was something that can slip so easily from our time...the intentionality of it. Electronics, screens, apps. They all seem to be pulling us away with being intentional with the time we are given. I'm not bashing them as a whole, because they are tools that can be used for good. But are we using this as tools to a bett

Your Health. This post was kind of a tough one for me to get started. Though we are all human, our bodies are so unique, and the needs of each are varying as well. Sure, we all need plenty of water, clean air, calories for energy, adequate sleep to regenerate. Those are the basics, we all know that. But it seems that is where it ends. With the amount of research and technology we have today we are finding out more and more ways to get healthy and more and more things that are making us sick. But it seems that not all of these things are effecting us equally. And not every "fix" is a cure for all.  And so, there is my hesitation. Organic or GMO. Keto or Adkins. Cleaning with vinegar or bleach. I'm sure you have your own: Fill in the blank.... Each of those come with a huge array of opinions and research. And so where do we settle? How do we know what to follow? When I find myself working through this quandary I come back to one word: Moderati