Category: intentional


Mar
2021

[savor]

categories: five minute fridays, intentional, purposeful, steady

I always like to look up the definition of each week’s word to help me center on what I want to say.  Merriam-Webster had numerous definitions and my favorite is “to delight in, enjoy.”  That is how I want to live my life. I fail more times than I succeed but it’s the goal. 

Ever since my babies were born, I tried really hard to savor the seasons I was in at the time. It was hard when they were little because the days were long but it didn’t take long to realize that the years were short. 

Now that they are young adults (my baby graduates from high school in two months) I want to savor this season as well. I want to remember their baby and toddler years, but I don’t want to dwell there. I want to be present in their lives now as they make their way in this big world. 

I tell my young mommy friends not to wish for the next season. It will come soon enough. Sooner than they can imagine. Savor everyday that you have in this season. Seasons will change, a lot of times without our even noticing it. 

In the words of Jim Elliott, “wherever you are, be all there.”  Savor it with all of your heart. 


Feb
2021

[observant]

categories: five minute fridays, intentional, steady

How many times a day am I actually observant? So many times I am running a million miles an hour, running from errand to errand and thinking about all the errands I’m not going to get done that day. 

I wake up and ask God to give me opportunities to share the Gospel, to meet a need, to make a friend.  With blinders on and a mission to check off my to do list, I miss the opportunities He might have for me that day. 

So I resolve to pay attention, to see what is going on around me, to be observant to the world around me. 


Aug
2020

[a thing]

categories: change, faith, family, intentional, new normal

I did a thing a couple of weeks ago. If you had asked me ten years ago if I would ever get a tattoo the answer would have been a resounding no. But seasons change and a few years ago I started thinking about it and over the last year started thinking about it a lot.

I spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted. I wanted it to mean something to me if I was going to place something on my body for the rest of my life.

I had decided what I wanted and with some good advice waited to make sure it was really what I wanted. But about 3 months ago I changed my mind. I had seen a quote from Jim Elliott that I hadn’t heard before.

If you don’t know who Jim Elliott is, click here. He, along with 4 other missionaries, were killed in the 1950’s by the people group they were trying to reach. While their deaths were tragic, through their deaths a people group who had never heard the Gospel did hear it. And they heard it from the families of those they killed. A movement of Jesus in that tribe was born.

When I started this blog a few years, I had grandiose ideas that it would take off and that I had something to say that others wanted to hear. Well, it really only serves for me to capture my thoughts in writing. The title “random thoughts of a wife and mom embracing this season of life” birthed from conversations I had with younger moms of littles who were overwhelmed and tired. My words to them were always to enjoy the season you are in because it goes by so quickly. When my kids were little I never wanted to wish away those years. Yes I was tired physically, but I knew they would one day be gone. And when I am emotionally tired with teenagers and young adults today, I don’t want to wish this season away either. It too will be gone one day.

So the quote “wherever you are, be all there” sums up my life motto. I don’t always get it right but it brings peace to my soul and a desire to trust God everyday that He has me right where He wants me.

“He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalms 1:3 CSB


Apr
2020

[another]

categories: covid-19, five minute fridays, intentional, new normal, purposeful

Today ends another week of quarantine…5 to be exact.  In some ways I haven’t seen any major changes.  As an extreme introvert, staying home for days on end doesn’t bother me one bit, but my kids and husband not so much.

The first few weeks were tough as we tried to get into a rhythm of working from home full-time, 3 college kids trying to finish out the semester online and one high schooler trying to do the same. No homeschooling for me as I know some parents of smaller children are having to do, but let me tell you no matter how old they are they can still be high maintenance 😊

As we adjust to another week of not leaving the house, all using the wi-fi at the same time, Zoom meetings, conference calls, etc., there have been some positives.  We are all healthy and we still love each other (for now).  I have made dinner more over the last 5 weeks than I have over the last year.  I have spent more intentional, purposeful time in my Bible and I have actually finished one book and am partially through another.  

I know all of this will pass and to quote a sister in Christ, let’s not waste this quarantine.  So that’s what I am trying to do, not waste it, as we head into another week of this new normal.