Although the timing of this post would seem like a new year's resolution sort of thing, I don't do new year's resolutions. When I realize something I should be doing, I go ahead and make a resolution then, whether it's January 1st or any other day of the year. Less pressure that way, too.
I don't want to just go through the motions of life, or school, or church, or my daily routine; I want to consider why I'm doing what I do, and whether or not what I'm doing is leading to my ultimate goals. In order to figure out all that, I must actually have long-term, ultimate goals. So this intentional living stuff is rather complex and multi-faceted.
The first time I really started thinking about this was after a sermon where the pastor was comparing our lives to a box top of a puzzle. When you put together a big, complex puzzle, you don't generally turn all the pieces upside down and hide the box. You look at the picture on that box top, and you choose pieces based on that. You get the border done first, if possible, and you can see that the sky-blue pieces probably go near the top... you get the idea. Well, our lives are like that, but most people go through life without looking at the box top, or even knowing what kind of picture they are putting together. So the first thing that needs to happen is to get an idea of what picture is on your box top. What do you want your box top to look like? That will help you decide what puzzle pieces to choose.
My Sunday school teacher made the same point a different way. He gave us a little chart. At the top it says, "Before I die, I want to..." and then it has columns with these headings: be; do; have; help; enjoy; leave. There are numbers down the left side. He gave this example: "Before I die, I want to enjoy all five of my children's weddings." Because he has that as his goal, he can more easily determine shorter-term goals. To enjoy his children's weddings, he must: teach his children about how to seek God's guidance in choosing a godly spouse; set an example for them in what a godly marriage looks like; take care of himself physically so that he does everything in his power to be alive & healthy at that time; set responsible financial goals so he can pay (or help pay) for their weddings... and so on.
By doing this, you are establishing your own personal mission statement.
I'm still pondering what my chart and/or box top should look like. Ken and I have talked about writing a family mission statement, but we still haven't done it. Perhaps over the next couple of weeks, when he is off work and we have time to relax and enjoy some family time, would be the perfect time to do this. I'd like to work on our own personal mission statements, too, which of course will be interrelated. As part of mine, I'm working on a list of smaller goals and specific things I want to do or change. Some of these are related to school; we're halfway through our school year, and there are things I want to revamp, or at least reevaluate. Other goals will be related to my spiritual life/growth, my health/fitness, and how I'm managing our household. One of the nifty things I've learned about blogland is that putting something out here for the "world" to see gives me a sense of accountability; even if none of you actuallypester me ask how things are going, I still feel obligated to keep my word. So once I come up with this list goals, I think I'll post them to give me a little more motivation to keep them going.
I don't want to just go through the motions of life, or school, or church, or my daily routine; I want to consider why I'm doing what I do, and whether or not what I'm doing is leading to my ultimate goals. In order to figure out all that, I must actually have long-term, ultimate goals. So this intentional living stuff is rather complex and multi-faceted.
The first time I really started thinking about this was after a sermon where the pastor was comparing our lives to a box top of a puzzle. When you put together a big, complex puzzle, you don't generally turn all the pieces upside down and hide the box. You look at the picture on that box top, and you choose pieces based on that. You get the border done first, if possible, and you can see that the sky-blue pieces probably go near the top... you get the idea. Well, our lives are like that, but most people go through life without looking at the box top, or even knowing what kind of picture they are putting together. So the first thing that needs to happen is to get an idea of what picture is on your box top. What do you want your box top to look like? That will help you decide what puzzle pieces to choose.
My Sunday school teacher made the same point a different way. He gave us a little chart. At the top it says, "Before I die, I want to..." and then it has columns with these headings: be; do; have; help; enjoy; leave. There are numbers down the left side. He gave this example: "Before I die, I want to enjoy all five of my children's weddings." Because he has that as his goal, he can more easily determine shorter-term goals. To enjoy his children's weddings, he must: teach his children about how to seek God's guidance in choosing a godly spouse; set an example for them in what a godly marriage looks like; take care of himself physically so that he does everything in his power to be alive & healthy at that time; set responsible financial goals so he can pay (or help pay) for their weddings... and so on.
By doing this, you are establishing your own personal mission statement.
I'm still pondering what my chart and/or box top should look like. Ken and I have talked about writing a family mission statement, but we still haven't done it. Perhaps over the next couple of weeks, when he is off work and we have time to relax and enjoy some family time, would be the perfect time to do this. I'd like to work on our own personal mission statements, too, which of course will be interrelated. As part of mine, I'm working on a list of smaller goals and specific things I want to do or change. Some of these are related to school; we're halfway through our school year, and there are things I want to revamp, or at least reevaluate. Other goals will be related to my spiritual life/growth, my health/fitness, and how I'm managing our household. One of the nifty things I've learned about blogland is that putting something out here for the "world" to see gives me a sense of accountability; even if none of you actually
