Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview? We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres. We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Intentional Life - Fox
(The following is a guest post by Grace Fox, national co-director of International Messengers Canada, a popular international speaker and author of four books including Moving From Fear to Freedom: A Woman’s Guide to Peace in Every Situation. She has written hundreds of magazine articles for publications including Focus on the Family and Power for Living. Grace can be found at www.gracefox.com )
The word intentional has become a key word in my vocabulary. For me, it implies deliberate, thoughtful action in every aspect of life. One of those areas is physical well-being.
A year ago I learned that my body can’t properly metabolize wheat and dairy products. By becoming intentional about following a recommended diet, I found freedom from debilitating pain and lost more than 20 pounds. In order to become more physically fit, I also became intentional about exercise and began working out at a women’s fitness centre several days each week. Focused effort produces results.
The same is true for spiritual health. Several years ago, I struggled to find time for regular Bible reading and prayer so I asked God to wake me when He wanted to meet with me each morning. The next day…and the next…and the next, I woke at 5:15. This has since become my favorite time of day, and it’s a precious time indeed as the Holy Spirit shows me truth from God’s Word and teaches me how to apply it to real life.
With the dawn of 2010, I believe the word intentional presents me with a new challenge. Between Christmas and New Year’s, I had the privilege of attending Urbana ’09 – a triennial missions conference sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. One of the keynote speakers told the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4). This woman – despised for her ethnicity and gender – was empty and broken, rejected, and hungry for love. Everyone in her neighborhood avoided her. But one day Jesus showed up, and everything changed.
Jesus’ meeting the Samaritan woman was not coincidental. He knew she needed love and healing, and He took deliberate action to see her needs fulfilled. Rather than skirt Samaria to avoid the ethnic outcasts, He entered the woman’s space to meet her. That’s intentionality at its height, rooted in love for the woman’s well-being.
Every day we cross paths with people whose lives are hurting and broken, people hungry for love and acceptance. Do we consider them a nuisance? An inconvenience? Do we avoid them because they make us feel uncomfortable? Or do we take deliberate action to bless them, to show love, and to splash them with the living water?
This year, I resolve – with God’s help – to be intentional about loving other people as Jesus did. That might happen through words aptly spoken; it might be through acts of kindness. Opportunities are endless, and they’re often simple.
For example, I recently baked banana-chocolate chip muffins for a neighbor who left a Christmas card and bottle of wine on our doorstep during the holidays. I don’t really know this gal – we’ve only chatted twice since we moved here two years ago. Surprise registered on her face when she opened her door and saw me standing there, plate in hand. I thanked her for her kindness, gave her the muffins, and asked if she’d had a nice Christmas.
“Oh yes,” she said. “It was lovely.” That was it. She stepped back inside, smiled, and closed the door. Not exactly what I’d expected, but that’s okay. I’ll keep my eyes open for future opportunities to show kindness and see where it leads.
What does the word intentional mean to you? How might your life change if you applied it in various areas? Let’s resolve together – with God’s help – to be intentional and see what happens. Focused effort produces results!
Labels:
Bible reading,
intention,
prayer,
thoughtful action
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Write Canada is more than a professional networking conference. It’s a safe place where beginning and intermediate writers can learn ...
-
It's an old proverb: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Sometimes elephants come crashing through our front door - uninvite...
-
I have been feasting of late on Marilyn Chandler McEntyre's Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies . She exhorts all of us -- and mo...
-
Dreams are baffling things. Like high quality china they have a strength that defies logic. Yet after years of bumps and bangs that sugges...
-
"Count!" The order assaulted her senses as she tore at the damp sheets. The girl tossed her heavy head to the side tryin...
-
Here is my most recent Christianity Today column. It has engendered by far the strongest viral reaction of any of my columns--repsonses bo...
-
“I’m going to build a raft, and then I can float it across the lake.” My ten-year-old grandson Austin’s face brimmed with excitement ...
-
I have noticed this year that instead of acknowledging the season as the Holiday Season, people are beginning again to rec...
-
My cousin Thelma and her husband Denys came back into my life a few years ago when they were visiting the U.S.A and Canada on one of their ...
-
Hudson Taylor: To China with Sacrificial Love By Rev. Dr. Ed and Janice Hird -an article for the Engage Light Magazine Who would have...
2 comments:
Thanks Grace,for this timely and importance focus, highlighted with your personal experience.
May God's continued blessing be on you and your writing ministry.
Such a wonderful lesson and reminder about how important it is that we get up and get active -particularly in the spiritual area.
Intentional means heart motivated. Thanks, Grace, for demonstrating and showing intention even if the end result isn't what we expect! (And thanks for making me think.)
Post a Comment