Planners, to-do lists, dinner menus, college schedules, jobs, papers, groceries, checkbooks, and children.
As women, we often find ourselves multi-tasking, not being able to just focus on one thing at a time because there are multiple areas and tasks that require our attention. Often, this multi-tasking leaves us with to-do lists that are overwhelming, little time to rest and an even smaller time dedicated to living an intentional life. A life that we create for ourselves, rather than allowing life to “happen” to us. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up every morning and know our intended purpose, not just a daily to-do list?
This is the purpose of She’s Intentional:
Our Mission is to create a renewed purpose of what really matters in life by being intentional in all that we do.
INTENTIONAL: of or pertaining to intention or purpose; done with intention or purpose, intended.
It describes a way of life, a conscious decision to live with intention, with purpose, not a life of accidental design. It is a life of divine and intended design.
Ephesians 5:14-17 says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you. Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men [women] but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” This scripture not only gives us a directive in verse 14, it gives us a bit of advice in verse 15 and 16 and an application in verse 17. While these verses are powerful in the full context of Ephesians 5, they also operate as a stand-alone to inspire a life of intentionality.
As Christians, we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in loving others and winning the world to Him. What greater purpose can we have? How can we weave that purpose into our everyday lives? Ephesians says that Christ will shine on us. How does this happen? When we awaken ourselves to the things of God, intentionally carving out space and time in our daily lives for His presence and hearing His word, His light can shine not only in us, but on us for others to see.
The next step says to make the most of our time, and I’ll be honest: here is where I sometimes struggle. I love being busy, and to multi-task, and actually do well managing time with most things, but sometimes I forget to leave space for the most important things: my quiet, intentional time with Jesus. The intentional time with the ones I live with. Creating intentional time for the friends who live locally, not just connecting via social media or electronically. Intentional Connection.
Lastly, Ephesians 5:17, leaves us with the application of how to solve this problem: understand what the will of the Lord is. We often think this is ambiguous. “How can I really understand God’s will?” We chase after His will and speak often of it, but are we overcomplicating it? His word gives directives as to what pleases Him and the Great Commission gives us our greatest purpose in Matthew 28:19. He gave us the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36-40: Love God and Love People. I think that’s doable, don’t you?
Here are a few ideas for creating an intentional life:
- Devotion: Create a daily time intentionally devoted to time with God and reading His word.
- Download: Before you go to bed at night get everything off your mind by setting a five minute timer and grabbing a journal. For five minutes, write everything on your mind in any random order to intentionally clear your mind. At the end of the five minutes set the journal aside and flip off that light. In the morning you can revisit the list and prioritize what really is important!
- Design: Design your day in such a way that the most important things are prioritized. Don’t procrastinate the important things, then you will always have the big things done, and have time for spontaneous times of connection with your children, your family or friends. When we get the hard work done, we have time to have fun (and don’t feel guilty about it!)
Praying for you this week as you set out living a life of intention!