Intentional

'Intentional' is my chosen word for the year 2015. As in 'intentional living'.

It's a word I kept seeing in blog posts on parenting, and realized it was something I really needed for myself. It means 'something done with intention or on purpose', and it was a wake-up call to the fact that most days I'm just 'surfing on the surface' of things, or, with a different metaphor, hurling along in a carriage drawn by two horses: Need-to-Do and Impulse-of-the-Moment.

Living my life with intention and purpose ties in with the concept of 'simple living' as explained by Tsh Oxenreider in her book 'Organized Simplicity', which I read last year and wholeheartedly recommend. (Everyone who knows me, please stop chuckling! :D ) Have a look at Tsh's website to learn more about it if you're interested!

So my desire for this year is that things happen more because I'm making conscious choices and following through with my plans, rather than just going on with the flow and getting frustrated that I never seem to have time for the stuff I really want to do.

Taking small steps and keeping up the pace is now key.

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the important things on my list for this year is reading the Bible more, and with that worship and prayer are connected. And because the days of my youth, when I knew any number of songs off by heart, are long gone, what I need now is to have the words at hand, if my worship is to be more than 'la la laaa' and 'mmm mmm mmm'! :D

That's why I made a wee printable of a wonderful song we sang at church last Sunday. I've printed it out and put it up on my fridge, and I'm sharing it here as a pdf file, so you can do the same if you'd like! :)

It's called 'Before the Throne of God Above', or 'The Advocate', and it was written in 1863 by a lady named Charitie Lees Smith. My church sings it on a melody written in the 90's by Vikki Cook, you can hear it on YouTube. I've created the printable using free fonts from here and here.

Click to download the pdf file!

Washing pots and pans and chopping veggies are sure to be made more enjoyable, not to mention more spirit-nourishing and uplifting, by singing this Scripture-filled hymn! It's one little step towards making sure there's more worship and focus on God in my day.

How about you? Have you ever found yourselves 'surfing on the surface' before? What did you do to find focus and follow your goals again?