The Intentional Life

 

  It was one of those moments.   Each kid was occupied with a book, homework, computer game, something. All I know is that the house was quiet. I had dinner as prepped as it could be as I waited for the water to boil.   I had, essentially, a moment of quiet. An empty slot of time to do nothing but wait.   Your first thought may be, “Good for her. I never have those.” But, I’m guessing, if you thought about it, you just might.   Standing in a checkout line.   Arriving to a coffee shop before a friend.   Sitting in the van waiting on school to let out.   Standing at the counter waiting on the coffee to brew.   Throughout our day there are little moments of time where we are waiting but we may find it hard to identify them as such because we are so used to filling them up. Those scenarios I listed, how many of them would be quickly followed by: I picked up my phone or I tuned into a podcast or I turned on the radio   How often do we, instead, just wait.   We have turned into a peo

  Heart. For the last 10 years I have been training for and running half marathons. My husband and I always do a specific one every October, going to back to the city where we first lived as newlyweds. I pretty much run 3 days a week year round. But, I have a hard time calling myself a runner.   Since elementary I have loved to write. I would always get excited for any writing assignment that was given. While the rest of the class groaned, I grinned. As an adult, I have been writing on a blog for over a decade and even self-published an Advent devotional last year. But, I have a hard time calling myself a writer.   Because I’m not the fastest, haven’t taken home any awards, and don’t really have a runner’s physique, I disqualify myself from the “runner” category. Because a publisher hasn’t taken an interest in my book, I lack confidence that my writing is good, and it feels too self-serving to call myself a writer, I disqualify myself from that category as well.   And I’

  It’s inevitable. At some point in time, someone in your life is going to let you down.   Your expectation of what you thought they would say or do falls short and you are disappointed.   Someone you trusted is caught in a lie. A friend who is loyal is found to have broken your confidence. A family member who you held in high regard is shown to be deceitful.   I recently had an experience of finding out that a person I thought of as one of integrity was part of an aggressive, foolish act. It left me feeling deflated, a bit confused, and very disappointed. As I was sitting at a red light, fighting tears, I handed it to God. I asked Him what I was supposed to do with it.   And He reminded me of the life of Moses. I was prompted to dive a bit deeper and so I took a walk through the books of Exodus and Numbers. Time and time again Moses was disappointed by God’s chosen people, the Israelites. Either they were complaining, disobeying, or doubting. Moses was chosen to lead thes

  We all describe our homes in different ways and we all have different goals for what we want our home to be to us. But, one thing we can all agree on, is that we want our home to feel safe.   On average, Americans spend $20.64 billion on home security systems every year. Clearly, we want our homes to feel secure and we're willing to shell out the money to make it that way. But while our homes may be physically safe, how safe are they spiritually? A century ago it was a lot simpler. You didn't let unknown people in your home, you could easily track which books, mail, or newspapers came in or out. You could turn off the one radio in your home if you didn't want your children to hear the news. Today it's a lot more complicated with phones, internet, and television. You can monitor it all, but things can still creep through. All of these ‘voices’ speaking into our family's lives can wreak spiritual warfare on all of us. So, while we have a handle on ou

       A few years back we moved into a new home. It had a decent sized yard, so the first thing my husband wanted to do was start a garden. Unfortunately, the whole yard was grass. There was no previously cut spot of exposed dirt for a garden. We had to start from scratch. This involved cutting up the sod and tilling up the dirt. Many sweaty and exhausting hours later we finally had a rectangle of space for our garden! We planned out the rows, decided on what we wanted to plant, and put the seeds in the ground. Within a week or two, the sprouts started to appear. But, they weren’t the only ones. The grass wanted to take it’s space back. For a time, we let the grass go, mingling in with the newly sprouted seedlings. But the grass was more aggressive than the beans and peas and we couldn’t let it go any longer. We took to weeding, pulling out the grass and weeds at their roots. Unfortunately, because the weeds had become so prevalent, it was hard to pull the bad plants ou

  Heart. As Christ followers, our first response to any trial or difficulty should be to turn to Him. Seek Him is prayer and wait for His leading. When we see hard things around us, our first response should be to pray.   In this past year there have been events, on a global scale, that feel large and beyond anything we can impact. We may feel this is the time to step back, remind ourselves that we’re not of this world, and continue in prayer in our safe little corner.   True, we need to keep an eternal focus. This world isn’t our home, we’re only here for a time. But God’s not expecting us to just hold on and wait. He’s also called us to be His hands and feet.   His words from Isaiah 58, though originally written to the wayward family of Israel, can still speak into our lives today. The nation of Israel was going through the motions of their faith, meanwhile their hearts were not devoted to God. The following seven verses speak to the worship that God is calling us to.

    It was a random Wednesday night. My husband had of course fallen asleep in about 3 minutes and I was lying there, listening to his breathing, wishing I too could fall asleep that easily. As I lay there wishing, a sense of melancholy came over me. And, as is my nature, I follow that emotion and try to figure out where the root originated. And so, my mind began to think back through the day. As it did, I started to take note of everything I didn’t get done. I didn’t get the kitchen cleaned up and decluttered like I had wanted to. I did zero work on that book I dream of publishing some day. I made no sales in my online business. I didn’t get any exercise in. At my office job I did many things, but nothing that felt like it really made a difference in anyone’s world. Basically, I felt like I didn’t move the ball forward on anything.   I eventually fell asleep, somewhere in the middle of my rumination on my failures. And, with the unfinished business in my mind, it greeted

  We all like the idea that our time is not wasted, yet how often do we fall into the time warp of distractions: social media, emails, procrastination, streaming videos, and lack of priorities. We know these things can suck up our time, but yet we fall into their traps time and time again. How can we break free?    Small, intentional moments.   Of the myriad of things we do each day, we want something to count– not just in a quantifiable way, but in a soul-filling, joy-inducing way.     God's word calls us to be purposeful with our time, even calling us to “redeem” it. To redeem something means that you buy it back. But, how can you take back something that is fleeting and slipping away constantly?   We have an Enemy that wants to distract us, to keep us from our mission of spreading the Gospel and God's love. Every moment spent distracted from that work is a moment that he has won. So, to redeem the moments we are in right now, we can intentionally take it from

  Money. There was this guy who had a decent house, nice car, and a fridge full of food. He knew people who had more than him, but he knew a lot more people who had less.   Due to a well-timed investment he suddenly saw himself with a windfall of money. He had so much he didn't even know what to do with it. So, he decided he needed to buy a better car, build a bigger house, and trick out his kitchen with one of those double sided fridges just because he could.   He was thrilled. He had a huge place to entertain, a sweet ride, and a fancy kitchen where his hired catering staff could create grand feasts for him. He thought, “This is it! I have made it! Now to sit back and enjoy life.”   Unfortunately, that night he died of heart failure.   If this story sounds familiar, it's because you may have read it before. It's found in Luke's gospel, chapter 12, just modernized a bit.   If you think you are no where close to where this rich young man was in life, then

 Dear Child,  You are a treasured child of the King.  The world is going to tell you that you are going to lose, but take heart - THEY DON'T KNOW THE RULES. Don't take it personally when some kid makes fun of your mismatched-on-purpose clothing choices or the stuffed animal that you brought in for show-in-tell or calls you some name that brings tears to your eyes.  They only call you that to make their own selves feel better.  There is something about you that threatens them.  And by calling you out on your 'lameness' somehow makes them feel like you are back to their level. I want you, dear child, to be sure of yourself, knowing God has created you as a unique individual, with unique qualities and tastes.  The best person you can be is YOU, not an imitation of someone else. People's valuation of you should not matter, only God's valuation of you should.  Measure yourself by His ruler, by His Word, not by the measuring stick of your peers. Love God, s

  Relationships. "Mom, can we go frisbee golfing?"   In my head, my first thought is, "No, I'd rather not go out in 95 degree heat and toss a frisbee at targets for 2 hours." I'd gladly read a book in the shade, go for a hike, take a nap, or go for a cup of coffee. But frisbee golf?   But, when your 14 year old asks to do something WITH you, it's best to jump on that train because you don't know when it will pass by again.   So, we went frisbee golfing. And though it did end up being fun, the most joy was seeing my son doing something he enjoys and being a part of it. It's life-giving to the relationship.   I see this play out big time in other areas as well when it comes to our kids. I pretty much take life seriously and don't slow down to have fun a whole lot. But setting aside my own interests, and taking up one of my child's instead, always proves fruitful.   When I'm tempted to groan and maybe even sigh at the one h

  Home. Laundry. Dinner prep. Dishes. Sweeping. Toy pick-up. More laundry.   There are just some chores that, no matter the size of your family unit, require almost daily attention. And often it’s all we can do just to stay on top of those daily tasks.   You’ve got other housekeeping items you would like to get to. But they all seem to require more time that what you have on a Tuesday evening. If you find you are stuck in getting started on any of those big-sized cleaning projects in your home, then it's time to start small.   Look at the large project as a whole, and then break it down into smaller tasks that can be accomplished bits at a time. This will help you start to make progress without leaving the house feeling like it’s been pulled apart in the middle of a big undertaking.   For example, I know our kitchen cabinets need cleaned out, everything wiped down, and reorganized. I generally don't have a 2 hour chunk of time that I can devote to tackling this pr