Intentionality

So it's January 2 and maybe this post is a day or two or more late. And chances are, you have already read a bunch a blogs and posts about resolutions and such. You may have your act together and find yourself feeling pretty good about the start of 2019.

Honestly, I wasn't feeling it this year. Maybe it was my unusual Christmas season. The week between Christmas and New Year's seemed to take an eternity and didn't seem "right" in the least. Numb and overwhelmed, how could I make resolutions for an entire year when I couldn't even seem to function through December 30th?

We hosted GOOD friends for NYE and found ourselves sharing various Bible reading plans. Wally shared how he had written his own plan for reading through the Word and I found myself realizing that this type of intentionality was just what I needed.

Intentionality.

I am blessed to gather monthly with a group of girlfriends. Before we leave for the evening, we share prayer requests and praises. More than not, each of us asks the rest of us to pray for some kind of "intentionality" - in our parenting, our marriages, our jobs, and our relationships - especially with our relationships with God.

We are all busy. We are all distracted. We are all guilty of procrastination.

January of a new year is an excellent time to start something new. But so is any Monday - it is the start of a new week. In the book of Lamentations, the Bible tells us that God's mercies are new each morning, so we could technically start something "new" each day....

By God's grace, we don't have a shortage of new beginnings- what we seem to lack is the intentionality to do something with those fresh starts. It's the intentionality that will take a resolution and make it a habit. It's the intentionality that will break the habitual sin's hold over us.

Where do we get that intentionality? My girlfriends and I know that we start with prayer, that's why we continue to pray for it. But it also is up to us. As we work it out, He works it in -

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have already obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  Philippians 2:12-13 (emphasis mine)

Work implies intentionality. Nothing is ever completed without intentional work. We are called to obey, to work, but we aren't asked to do all the work on our own . . . The Holy Spirit and I do the work together.

A little intentionality on my end will be met on God's end in ways I can only anticipate, but know that they will be fulfilled for my good and His glory.

So that's my resolution this year - I resolve to be intentional trusting that whatever the intentionality produces is a result of God's work within it.

Intentional in my parenting, my marriage, my job, and my relationships, especially my relationship with God - I guess that is my word for 2019 - "Intentionality"

I am hoping this shows up in my posts here . . . I guess I'll just have to be intentional about that too.