Finding INTENTIONAL

Have you ever lost INTENTIONAL?

I lose IT often--in my eating, in my checkbook, in my daily time management.

Losing INTENTIONAL happens when we fail to plan in advance, so the saying comes true, "Life happens while we are making other plans."  I'm pretty sure life also happens while we are making NO plans.

God must like INTENTIONAL because He used it to make us.

People around us who live productive lives with less stress must know INTENTIONAL because it seems to be directing their lives, building the space around their day that sets boundaries, keeps to-do's within sane limits, and leaves margin for rest and relationship.

So, in 2012, I am going to resolve only one thing:  to find and keep INTENTIONAL as my daily shadow.  I want it with me as I pursue God, family and friends, church, writing, and other loves of my life.  I want it with me as I plan my eating, my exercise, and the inescapable mundane to-do's.

I hope INTENTIONAL is already your shadow.  If not, maybe we can find IT together.

Happy New Year's Eve.

Letting Go--Day 5

DOES GOD GET A SAY-SO?

Years ago, our church was in the process of hiring a pastor.  We visited a church in a nearby city to get their recommendation on how best to conduct the search.  They freely shared that they based their pastor selection on what the congregation wanted. Hmmm...I wondered.  Does God get a say-so?

Our life is essentially a search--for meaning, for pursuit, for productivity, for relationship.  What is our search based upon?  Does God get a say-so?

What would 2012 look like if our search, our passion began with letting go of our agenda and giving God first say-so?

Can He be trusted with our passions?  

Why would He get first say in our lives?

For me, it comes down to ownership.  Since He made me, He technically owns me. And since He made the whole world, He can see from a vantage point I can't even comprehend.  

The kicker is this:  even though He "owns" us, He gives us the right to disown Him.  So our life is ours to give or take away...from His say-so.  

This is probably the most critical letting go point in our whole wrestling lives.  Since I want to get it right, I believe the best choice is to give back to Him that which He made and owns:  me.  I'm letting go of my agenda and giving Him complete say-so over my life.  Who gets say-so in your life for 2012?

Letting Go--Day 4

BAD HABIT DISORDER

Did you know there is a bad habit disorder?

It is not the bad habit...all of us parade through Bad Habit Land, trying on different shapes and sizes and selecting the one that is just right for us--just right to harm us somehow, that is.

The disorder is neglecting the Voice that tries to rescue us from our current bad habit of choice.  It is that tiny, but clearly detectable, nudge that whispers to our heart and our conscience, "Stop," or "Don't."

We neglect the Voice because we want to indulge, or not exert discipline to stop, or both.

Bad Habit Land is not a misnomer.  It is called bad because it is somehow hurting us. But that is not the whole story.  The real grief of Bad Habit Land is that it says to our always listening ears, "You are not worth the hard work of rescue, recovery, and delivery."

Oh, but we are.  Oh, but you are.  Do you have a bad habit to let go of in the year ahead?

First, decide you are worth it.  That will be the engine that powers you right out of the Badlands.  Delivery begins with that incredible decision.  That decision powers everything else because it agrees with God Himself. Since He made you, He says, "You are worth it."

Try it--all you have to lose is...your bad habit.

Letting Go--Day 3

HOSTILITY ON REPLAY

Is hostility toward someone on REPLAY in your mind and heart?

Look closely.  Young Hostility poses as occasional resentment reminders:  Oh yeah, I remember what he said to me.  Every time that tiny statement REPLAYS, it gathers steam.

Until one day, Young Hostility morphs into Mature Hostility and it gallops into your heart with frequent reminders:  I can't believe what he said to me.  He doesn't deserve my company.  REPLAY of this cements the hardness of heart and the chasm in that relationship is pretty much set.

How would God untangle this, if we gave Him a chance?  If we intentionally decided it was OUR job to let go of the hostility, regardless of who did what to us, what might God do or say?

He might point out, like He does in Hebrews 12, that Jesus plowed through a long litany of hostility in His short time here, and if we can focus on that and keep letting it go like Jesus did, it will shoot adrenaline into our souls.  (MSG)

For me?  Soul-adrenaline is my remedy of choice.  I'm letting go of hostility.  Jesus, set me free.

Letting Go--Day 2

FOOD PRISON

What you eat is either sustaining you or killing you.

Whether you are fully incarcerated or just an occasional visitor to food prison, it has taken a lifetime to get there and will take the rest of your lifetime to improve your condition.

Well, that's depressing...

So where is the hope?  How can I make food my friend, my body "builder" instead of body "destroyer?"

(1) Consider white flour, diet drinks, artificial sweetener and most things processed and packaged as substandard.  Walk away, walk away every chance you get.

(2) Write Genesis 1:29 on your bathroom mirror:  Then God said, "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth and every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food..."  If we were originally wired for vegetables and fruits, remind your brain of that every day.  It really will make a difference.

(3) Ask God to help you locate that ideal weight range you lost.  He knows where to find it and wants to be your best friend in the hunt.  

Like most prisons, the only way you get to food prison is by choice...your own.

Crazily enough, freedom from food prison is yours for the taking.  Won't you let go?

Letting Go--Day 1

THE REPEAT-A-CYCLE

It is almost 2012.  We have almost a full week to wish and wish and wish that "whatever" would change.  But true to the definition of insanity, we will do the same thing in 2012 that we did in 2011 and wonder why we get the same results!

We will fully participate in REPEAT-A-CYCLE.  This is the zone of eating, arguing, procrastinating, spending, or rescuing that which shouldn't be eaten, argued (yet again), spent, postponed, or rescued.  Which area jumps out at you?

For me, it is procrastination.  My office is a bedroom, my chair the side of the bed that allows me to write on an oversized bedside table.  Okay, that works, but the kicker is that the entire bed is covered with piles of papers that are not sufficiently streamlined and organized.  It would take about three hours to fix and I have known that for about three months.  REPEAT-A-CYCLE.

So on this Day 1 of Letting Go Week, I am saying out loud that by the end of the week, the bed will be a bed again, though still my favorite office "chair," but a bed (paperless) nevertheless.

Will you join me in tackling one of those areas that plague you?  I would love the company...

The Christmas Hush

Is it possible to close our eyes, just for a moment, and hear the hush...the absolute awe that must have been the pride of heaven, the joy of God, His desire all along to give us His greatest gift...