Living Intentionally

There are two main ways to live:  intentionally or reactionally. I know I am living reactionally when my circumstances drive my mood, when I respond emotionally to a situation instead of prayerfully, when I don’t make the time to plan and just “wing it”, when I run my race without thought, prayer, or plans.  When I am living in this manner, I am constantly at the mercy of the urgent, the loudest voice, the squeakiest wheel and I have to ask the question:  “Is this really the way the Lord would have me live?”

The answer is no.  The Lord would have me live with a quiet and gentle spirit, in prayer, in thanksgiving, in an orderly manner.  I have found that it is impossible to live this way unless I have made time for thought, for forming convictions, and for prayerfully determining God’s “To do” list for the day.

Does that mean that the day’s agenda never gets derailed.  No, of course not.  There are days when the whole day turns upside down.  Holding the “to do” list lightly and listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction from moment to moment are key.

However, most days need structure and planning and an ungirding of prioritizing the important things.  The important things are often quiet and undemanding in comparison to the urgent things.  They wait for you to notice them.  They don’t often loudly demand as the urgent things do.  And they will be lost if you don’t take the time to notice them and carve out the space to include them in your life.

I want to live intentionally, to choose the important things over the merely urgent, to think about the true and the lovely and the worthwhile things, to do my husband good and not evil all the days of my life,  to teach what is noble and just and praiseworthy to my children, to love other people in the right ways, to put God and His kingdom first, to have a quiet and gentle spirit which is pleasing to the Lord.

How about you?  Do you live intentionally or reactionally?