Sunday, September 2, 2018

Intentional Life


I didn't intend for this to happen.  It just did.  I’m not an interesting person.  I drink coffee and paint chickens on my days off.  My house is chaos with three large dogs and three large boys (hubs, and Bam mostly, Ant on occasion).  I work 12-14 hour shifts on mid-nights, extra details or court cases wake me early, and home schooling our 5th grader wakes me even earlier.  On my Sunday’s off I squeeze in six hours at the Farmer’s Market to sell my hobby.  My schedule is rotating week to week so my family’s schedule also rotates.  They accommodate me, and have been for nearly a decade, with my belief that I can save the world. 

Added stress of our financial responsibilities and family obligations, unexpected expenses, and a home in desperate need of an insect/squirrel/frog exorcism since the roof damage, has diverted my focus away from my purpose.  My faith is strong that everything will work out, the problem is that my faith has been in every-thing.  My faith should be in God and trusting that all God leads me through gets me to where He wants me in this big design of life.    

If you’ve read this far you’re probably still wondering what my purpose is.  You see, it’s not much different than anyone else’s purpose.  We are given one life.  And we are to live it.  The purpose of life is to live.  It’s that simple.  HOW we live is where it gets complicated. 

We’ve accepted the idea that we work until we can afford to retire, and then we enjoy the things we’ve worked all those years to do except we’re old by then and don’t get to do what we originally set out to do.  Make sense?  At the tender age of 40, I’ve got a good 25-30 years to add to my so-called retirement fund.  Looking at said fund I’ve concluded that we deserve better than what we’re giving ourselves. 

Hubs and I both have been so busy working for a living that we’ve postponed making a life.  Working multiple jobs, with little sleep, and no family time is not a life.  Stress, health issues, growing debt, and waning faith is not a life.  Paycheck to paycheck is not a life.  Here’s the thing though, I no longer feel guilty for wanting to make more money in order to provide for my family and help others.

Whomever read and misquoted, “Money is the root of all evil” from 1 Timothy 6:10 needs to stop and re-read the Bible.  Right now, go, read it!  Or Google it like I did because my Bible has tiny print that hurts my aging eyes.  The actual verse is, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.  It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” 



As a very wise person stated, “Our attitude toward money is the problem, not the money itself.  Money is morally neutral,” like most inanimate objects.  A knife is not evil.  A gun is not evil.  A plate full of chocolate covered chocolate with chocolate on top is not evil.  It’s what we, as basic stupid humans, do with those things that can make them evil.  

And there will always be some form of payment in this world for the things we require to live.  We give back and we pay it forward.  Period.  There’s a debt we will all pay and that debt is due the day we take our last breath.  No amount of money, or good deeds, or “Likes” on Facebook will pay your way into heaven.  The only way in is by God’s grace.  Yep, grace wins it.

There’s a lot of changes happening for our family right now with work, with health, with school, with future goals that are becoming very real and within reach.  With these changes come bittersweet decisions and much needed sacrifices.  We need to be intentional with what we do in order to get what we want. 

I intend to grow my faith in God, whom makes all things possible. 

I intend to grow my finances to pay off my debt and pay it forward. 

I intend to grow my health, to be strong and capable of protecting myself and others.

I intend to teach my son 5th grade math no matter how dumb it makes me feel.

I intend to make a life and not just a living. 

#intentionallife #onpurpose #gracewins

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