living intentionally ch. 5

i wanted to dive deeper into my commitments for 2010 & i wanted to bring you along for the ride. please feel free to share any thoughts, suggestions, comments, encouragements or questions as we go along.

{owner}

5. run a 5K with holly
you may be laughing right now.  you may be laughing because you know that i am horribly out of shape and can barely run a mile.  {i'm not exaggerating ...it's true} or you could be laughing because you run regularly and making a 5K race a goal may seem like a teeny tiny task not worth mentioning.  well stop your cackling folks.  some people just have to work from the ground up.
it's a good thing that i'm working though these commitments.  i had almost successfully erased this intention from my memory but unfortunately i was reminded by my dear sweet blogland list and by my thighs {...they send me reminders sometimes too} that this is something i would really love to accomplish.

there are a few reasons that i wanted to commit to this endeavor.
1.  i would L-O-V-E to be in shape.  i am a mess.  i get winded walking up a single flight of stairs.  i'm weak and have no muscles.  {but i have done 3 pull ups recently...at different times}.  my lungs & heart would love some cardio stimulation.
2.  i need discipline.  i need it in all areas of my life.  i've heard it often said that if you get disciplined in a few areas of your life it will carry over in your attitude toward other aspects.  i would love to see that grow in me.
3.  i like to have a goal & something to work hard toward.
4.  the apostle paul uses the metaphor of 'running a race' many times in scripture to parallel our journey with Christ.  i feel like it would be a really awesome to identify with that scripture in a physical way - that i'd be training for a race with the same determination that i am training to be a disciple.
5.  i like to hangout with holly.  it will be super fun to train with her.  and to run the race. we're friends.

Here's some encouragement to run {in more ways that one}:

hebrews 12:1-3:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
 
1 corintians 9: 24-27:
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
 
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

i haven't started working on this yet but i will keep you updated as i progress friends.

holly, you ready?

living intentionally ch.4

i wanted to dive deeper into my commitments for 2010 & i wanted to bring you along for the ride. please feel free to share any thoughts, suggestions, comments, encouragements or questions as we go along.

4.  get organized & stay that way


this is probably as self-explainatory a  commitment as they come.  i'm a mess.  a big mess.  a wreck even.  i am a clutter queen.  i am a hoarder.  i have no problem dropping things in their wrong-ful place and leaving them there.  i am lazy. 


in our home we have much more space then what we need so it seems logicial that everything, and i mean everything should have it's own little home.  and it should live there.  always.  but nevertheless....there are always a pile of dishes, clothes strewn about, a mountain of shoes by the door, blankets all over the den & two full rooms in our house are so messy they are unlivable. 

part of my problem is that we stay pretty busy and we are rarely home.  when i am home, organizing & cleaning isn't one of my top...10 things i'd like to do.  another problem is that i haven't created a "home" for everything yet.  i still have dressers to paint, shelves to hang,  etc. and i don't know what to do with the junk they will hold until they are done.  these two issues equal one big mess.  i a committed to having a home that is in order.  it will be done.

i have the guts to post this commitment now because just last night i really kicked off my attempt.  i tried to clean, organize, declutter, and put things away.  i'm on the right track.  everything still looks awful but we're going places.  i know it takes time, so i need to take the time. 

martha is always good for some inspiration so let me share some with you...

and this {link} will take you to a place of pure organization.  looking for tips for every space in your place?  click it! 

{links to things you may have missed}

2010 commitments:

1. live out the gospel daily

2. give freely in all circumstances

3. use my time well

living intentionally ch. 3

i wanted to dive deeper into my commitments for 2010 & i wanted to bring you along for the ride. please feel free to share any thoughts, suggestions, comments, encouragements or questions as we go along.

{owner}

3. use my time well: 

the life, death & resurrection of christ has drastically changed my life: my life now & for eternity.  shouldn't the way i use my time reflect that?

i've been putting off this post because i don't know how to articulate my thoughts on the subject.  its not that i don't have anything to say...it's that i have so much to say.  in my head i have a big mess of thoughts & questions that i'm just not quite sure how to eloquently, accurately, effectively spill it all out to you.

using my time "well" is such a challenge for me.  i don't miss deadlines or forget major events but in the day-to-day i often feel overwhelmed & disorganized.  it isn't as if i don't have a planner & a list mapping every last second out {because i do} but i live in this crazy & strange paradox.  i have 1,000,000 things to do & read & plan & prepare & clean & buy & make.  meetings to go to, people to see, places to be. 

the majority of what i spend my time doing are things that i love, things i feel called to, & things that are "good."  i often keep myself so busy "doing" that i don't leave time for things that are of the utmost importance to me - like spending time in the presence of the Lord, spending time in the Word, spending time in prayer.  what makes it all the more complex is that i long and covet these times of freedom where i don't have things planned where i could literally do anything i want & yet when those moments present themselves, i don't want to do anything.  i don't want to get things done off my list, i don't want to learn or serve or cook or tidy or read or any of the ga-gillion of things that i SAY i would love to do...if only i had the time.  i end up wasting the tiny precious seconds that i left open by watching trash tv or sleeping.

i know that the Lord is clear and concise in what is most important to Him - that we love Him with all our heart & that we love people.  somehow it gets all twisted up when i actually try and live it out.  i have not figured out the balance.  i have not concocted a plan.  i am committed to working on it though.  i am committed to using my time well, not wasting precious moments made for me to sit in the presence of the Lord and not running myself ragged just to be a "do-er". i often tell myself Jesus was pleased while mary sat at His feet remember?  not by martha's completion of many tasks.

what do you do when you desire to be the woman:
who sits for hours at the feet of the Lord, 
who wears down the floor because she kneels before Christ so often
who is a disciple
who lives out ministry daily & gives her life away to those she's been entrusted with
who is a missionary
who has super close girlfriends of her own that she spends bundles of time with
who has a happy, healthy, christ-centered marriage where we spend genuine & authentic time together
who can do things that she enjoys like learn to cook, bake, create, decorate & sew
who runs
who gives
who reads & learns
who works {out of necessity}
who leads & teaches
who dances & plays & rejoices
who cares for peoples
who spends time with her family
who goes on trips & sees the world with her friends, fam &/or husband
who celebrates with those who celebrate & mourns with those who mourn

how can you be all of that & do all of that & keep your sanity....or sleep....ever?  are there really enough hours in the day or even days in the week!?  i don't want to look back & see a wasted life.  but i don't want to lose my mind either.

i know that everyone is different. what one person can handle would drive another crazy, one person needs certain boundaries and another family needs none at all.  i know that i can sometimes feel burnt out & i am regularly very tired.  i know that i am far less social than i was a year ago {i don't do less social things, but i get less excited about doing them}.  i feel like i still have the same heart, just a different kind of life.  working all week leaves me drained in the evenings but every evening is filled just the same. i fill them myself.  if they weren't filled i would most likely waste them as i mentioned above. 

i know i am rambling...i told you i didn't know how to talk about this #3.  so the moral of the story is that i'm a little lost.  i just know that i want to use my time well.  i want to figure out what it means to live a life worthy of the calling i have recieved {eph 4:1}, i want need to understand how to live "at the feet of Jesus" and at the same time "do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" {eph 2:10}.

if you've read this far, bless your heart & your weary little eyes!  please feel free to shed some light, insight or even just some fellowship into this dilemma.

{links to things you may have missed}

2010 commitments:

1. live out the gospel daily

2. give freely in all circumstances

living intentionally ch. 2

i wanted to dive deeper into my commitments for 2010 & i wanted to bring you along for the ride. please feel free to share any thoughts, suggestions, comments, encouragements or questions as we go along. 

2. give freely in all circumstances

why in the world am i so stingy?  i have contemplated this question many times over.  i don't know if it is because i am overly thrifty, that i was taught sound & responsible practices, that i'm selfish or that i don't trust the Lord enough - more than likely it is a wretched mix of all of the above.  when i speak of 'giving' i don't solely mean giving in terms of money, being tight with time or resources can be just as detrimental to your heart towards others but the way we use our funds is often the most obvious, external way to check what is really going on inside.  

we were created to share with one another.  we were made to depend on the Lord for our every need & bless others with what we have been entrusted with.  why is that such a struggle?  do i think that if i spread my resources too thin for the cause of Christ that He wouldn't come in and bless the situation?  i know that He would, but i live, i give, like he wouldn't. 

it reminds me of the parable of the talents from matthew 25.  the master gave each servant talents (or money), they were entrusted with to do 'good' with the funds until the master returned.  when the master returned two of the servants had taken risks with their funds, they were bold & had earned for their master double what he had left them with.  the third servant was fearful and timid & had just buried the money until his master returned.  the master was so thrilled  by the confidence & boldness of the two that their "master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' 

i don't know about you but i want God to be able to look at me, see what i did with what he had entrusted to me & be proud of the way i used it, the way i gave it.

my second 2010 commitment is to give freely in all circumstances.  this is going to be a huge struggle for me but i know that having this plastered on my heart will help me to serve others rather than store up treasures here on earth for myself.  i know that if i don't take risks, if i am not obedient in this, i am not living up to my "#1" 2010 commitment either; i would not be living out the gospel.

i'm going to take my cue from acts 2:42-47:

"they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.   all the believers were together and had everything in common. selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

i know there is joy in giving.  i know that there is freedom in understanding that "things" & possessions don't make you happy & don't make you secure.  i know that i am called to give.

here is a whole bundle of scripture that has encouraged me in my commitment.   i hope it encourages you as well.

jeremiah 17:17

“...blessed are those who trust in the Lord

and have made the Lord their hope and confidence."

luke 14:12-13

"then Jesus said to his host, "when you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. but when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

2 corinthians 8:1-7

"we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. for they gave according to their means, as i can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. accordingly, we urged titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you— see that you excel in the grace of giving also."

matt 25:34-45

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

2 corinthians 9:6-8
"remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

{links to things you may have missed} 2010 commitments:
1.  live out the gospel daily
2.  give freely in all circumstances

living intentionally ch.1

via

i wanted to dive deeper into my commitments for 2010 & i wanted to bring you along for the ride. please feel free to share any thoughts, suggestions, comments, encouragements or critiques as we go along.

1.  live out the gospel daily:
the life, death & resurrection of christ has drastically changed my life: my life now & for eternity.


romans 3:23-25 
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. this was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."


romans 5:6-9
"for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  for one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

john 15:13

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

knowing Truth & accepting such an awesome, undeserved gift should be evident in my life.  i pray that over this next year that i would continually preach the gospel to myself and live it out each day to those around me.  i pray that i would recognize my position & condition without christ, that i would contemplate what i've been saved from. i pray that my life would overflow & abound in thankfulness & grace.  i pray that i would know my identity in christ & that i would tap into the holy spirit, taking advantage of this awesome power that i have living in me - the very cause for my faith, to live a life connected to christ, walking with him all of my days.  i pray that my eyes would be fixed on heaven and that i would not be the person from 1 corinthians 15:19: "if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." i want my hope to be set on things eternal not on that which is fleeting & momentary.   

thank you Lord for saving me from life now & eternity later without you, without anything good or pure or beautiful.  thank you for loving me so lavishly & calling me your daughter & heir although i am constantly falling short.  i pray Father that you would grab ahold of my heart & draw me nearer & nearer to you.  give me your eyes & please write your story on my heart.  i pray that i would never forget or diminish the importance of the cross.  Lord you are so good.

psalm 145

a psalm of praise. of david.

i will exalt you, my God the King;

i will praise your name for ever and ever.

every day i will praise you

and extol your name for ever and ever.

great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;

his greatness no one can fathom.

one generation will commend your works to another;

they will tell of your mighty acts.

they will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,

and i will meditate on your wonderful works.

they will tell of the power of your awesome works,

and i will proclaim your great deeds.

they will celebrate your abundant goodness

and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

the LORD is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

the LORD is good to all;

he has compassion on all he has made.

all you have made will praise you, O LORD;

your saints will extol you.

they will tell of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might,

 so that all men may know of your mighty acts

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and your dominion endures through all generations.

the LORD is faithful to all his promises

and loving toward all he has made.

the LORD upholds all those who fall

and lifts up all who are bowed down.

the eyes of all look to you,

and you give them their food at the proper time.

you open your hand

and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

the LORD is righteous in all his ways

and loving toward all he has made.

the LORD is near to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

he fulfills the desires of those who fear him;

he hears their cry and saves them.

the LORD watches over all who love him,

but all the wicked he will destroy.

my mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.

let every creature praise his holy name

for ever and ever.

2010 with ben & jen

happy new year friends!  this past year has been a blast for us.  

things that happened in 2009:

--lived out the majority of our 1st year of marriage followed up by our 1st year anniversary

--got to go to summer camp with lafayette for the first time & with hubs for the first time

--bought a house with benny

--started blogging

--went decorating crazy {in my head anyway...hopefully lived out soon}

--benny started back to school

--lots of my dear friends started their families making ben & i aunts & uncles

--my momma steph got baptized 

--adventures: 

             went on a nashville adventure with benny

             my first time in chicago for christmas

             went to california with jules for work

--saw students at l.h.s. cross from death to life

i hope the next year is just as full.  

resolutions, in my book, are basically just waiting to be forgotten so instead i am going to run with some 'commitments' for 2010.  they are long-term commitments but making sure they are short-term will ensure that they stay fresh in my mind.  sarah who taught me about fabulous headers also suggested choosing a word or phrase instead of making a list.  i love that idea, a clear and concise focus laid out for the year.  i love lists so i did both.  each bullet is deeper than what it written but i kept it short for your sake.  i'm going to print this out and keep it before me often.  my one phrase is 'be intentional'.  i think that i pass up or miss out on many of the things i hope for in my life because i live unintentionally, just going through the motions & keeping busy.

i think it would be good for me to elaborate on these a little more over time, maybe one a week for the next ten weeks or something similar.  i want to dig deeper into it myself & share enough with you all to create some accountability too.   

hope you had a fantastic evening last night, we sure did.  we rung in the new year with dear friends, fun games & lots of diet coke - you know i took some pics to share.  until next time...


i hope to laugh. play. love. live. eat. sing. pray. dance. praise. hug. visit. clean. drive. twirl. craft. work. speak. care. & read. INTENTIONALLY.