Intentional Series: The Heart

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 neither of these activities is necessarily being intentional. Goals involve living in an imagined future and are not as concerned with what is happening to you in the present moment. With goals, the future is always the focus.
Being intentional is quite different than goal making. It is not oriented toward a future outcome. Instead, it is the practice that is focused on how you are being present. Your attention is on the now, in the constantly changing flow of life. Examine your heart. Is it focused on selfish....or selfless motives? Is it focused on the Creator.... or the created?

Take some time this week to examine your heart and it's motive. If it's wandered, let's work to get it back on track. And then when your heart is aligned, set your intentions based on understanding what matters most to you and make a commitment to align your actions with your inner values.

Use the Psalm in the above graphic as a prayer:
Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
-Psalm 119:36-37

Want to make sure you don't miss a single one of these posts from the Intentional series? Sign up to receive them in your inbox every Monday morning HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Tell me how you live intentional. I'd love to know!

Popular posts from this blog

The jig is up

Image
OK, I've kept it a secret for 6 months, but now that it's over, I'm bragging on my man. : ) Since April, Paul has been training to run the Columbus Marathon. We were able to get a few days off of work, grandparents watched the kids, and on Saturday morning Paul and I headed down to Columbus. We headed downtown to pick up his race packet and then spent the rest of the day and night with Ben, Jaime, and Alayna . Dark and early (5 AM) Sunday morning we rolled out of bed, Paul got geared up, and we headed downtown again to find a decent parking spot. Thankfully we found a good place to park and had Paul to the starting area at 6:30 AM (an hour before start). Ben graciously came along so I didn't have to wander around Columbus on my own -thanks, Ben! It was mid-30's at the start with a slight breeze, but skies were clear and the sun came out once it rose. Ben and I saw Paul off at the start and then headed to the halfway point (got some coffee along the way) and
Read more

Madeline Nichole Suvar

Image
The newest addition to our family came into this world on February 1st. She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 19 inches long. She surprised us all with having black hair - Owen and Hannah were born with next to nothing for hair and even then it was real light. She impressed the doctors at the hospital by gaining back her birth weight and passing it by an ounce (a rarity, I guess). Our first day at home (today) went well. She was awake for most of the morning and through lunch and then took a nap in the afternoon. She nurses well and doesn't get upset by all the noise Owen and Hannah make. Hannah loves to come over and pat her on the head and Owen will talk to her and hold her hand. I am working on wrapping my mind around the fact that I am a mother of 3 - it makes me feel old! :) I'm healing well from my C-Section, the hardest part is forcing myself to stay put and letting Paul do things for me. He's a great nurse, cook, father, husband.... : )
Read more

Of loss and hope

Image
Thank you to those who have reached out to me, prayed for me, since my post on Sunday. I am humbled yet again by the love of Christ, and His followers. I spoke of hope. And truly I am learning more about hope as life goes on.  I understand it more than I did 10 years ago. And even now, this week, I feel I am seeing new dimensions of it that I did not know existed. I am a realist. With a small dose of optimism.  And I think that it is that sprinkling of optimism that is keeping me from swinging way over to the pessimistic side of things. Because I truly want things to work out, HOPE that things will work out.  But I keep my hand on the shift knob, because I just may have to throw things into a lower gear because well, I'm just hoping for things to work out, but kinda doubt they will. I hope that made sense to someone.  You may need to go back and read it.  I'll wait. .......... I think I live most of my life, and approach most circumstances, like that.
Read more