The Intentional Life

  Heart. This past summer our family hiked up to the top of a mesa in New Mexico. The air was warm, the sun was hot, the sky was a gorgeous aqua blue, and occasionally a soft breeze would come along. Being in the desert, there wasn’t a lot of tall trees or flowers growing. But, there were a lot of juniper bushes, cacti, and sage brush. As we hiked, often the sage brush would grow close to the trail and our bodies would brush up against it as we moved past. When we hike as a family, I often take the rear. My husband leads the train, and I keep an eye out on the troop as the caboose. Being in this formation, I was in the prime spot for a beautiful metaphor. As my family hiked past the sage brush they stirred up the scent. So much so, that by the time I came walking through, the air was filled with the earthy, herby scent of sage. In a stark desert landscape, it was a beautiful reprieve. It made me think of how we live our lives, and how we “brush up” against others. Wh...

  This past week I had the conversation about how it is so hard for me to just sit. I enjoy the feeling of being productive, of doing. If there is something fun I would like to do, I often tell myself I can do it as a reward once ALL the other things are done. But here's the rub. The things are never done. And so often my "reward" is never gotten to. It was interesting to hear from others who are similar to my bent, some even more so. And I was fascinated with those who could set aside work to play without a feeling of guilt. I feel like we could have a balance of both in our lives.  For me, realizing that I don't have to have ALL the household chores done before I reward myself with 30 minutes with a good book. For others it may be seeing the benefit of completing a list before going off to do the fun thing....at least every once in a while. I think a good reason why we need to bring a little bit of both into our lives is because there is most likely a yo...

 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....

"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 13 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 hundredth conversation about ...

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...