Saturday, March 29, 2014

A Journey of Intention

Pretty, no?
Yesterday I was wondering around Barnes and Noble (as I so often do, it's one of my happy places), picking up this and that, venti americano in hand and peace in my heart. Something about being surrounded by books, all of those words and stories just waiting be discovered. Whole worlds in slim volumes of poetry and prose. I could wax on but I think you get the picture. The journal section is one of my very favorites. I have more journals than I could every possibly fill with my own words. I'm constantly buying new ones. I can remember being a child and getting my first diary. Having my own secret place to store my words - it was a sort of magic to me. I've collected words ever since. Scraps and stories and others peoples voices, I keep it all, or I try to anyway.

Anyway (you can see I have I a bit of a problem with words, excessive adjectives and commas that stretch sentences past the point of good grammar) a smallish, chunky like, turquoise book caught my eye, mainly for it's pretty design. Nothing like a good layout (in my personal opinion). The front cover reads 'Starting Today, a Journal of Intention and Change'. Inside each page has a place for the date and at the top is written 'Starting today, I will...' followed by blank lines challenging you to fill them with all your good intentions. The idea is to turn your intention into real change. And I absolutely love it. I also picked up (an even smaller, chunkier, adorable) another book called 'Think Happy, Be Happy: Art, Inspiration, Joy'. It's filled with gorgeous hand lettering and typography that form quotes of encouragement and love. The perfect accompaniment to my new journal.
A million times yes!!

The book was over with the journal, in the journal section, totally not where it was supposed to be. When I found them a light seemed to go on, that feeling when the Holy Spirit says 'yes, do it, go on, this is for you'. I've been feeling a lack of direction in my spiritual life. Don't get me wrong, I feel connected, but I also feel like I can not decipher what God is trying to do with me right now. A lot of negative things have been happening lately , and it truly seems as if there is a force trying to interfere with the Holy Spirit working in and around me. Now, I'm not sure exactly where I stand on the idea of Satan. But I keep getting thwarted as I try to truly step out towards The Lord. I just don't know. So all of this has left me feeling as though I need to clarify my intentions, my direction. 'Lord lead my feet to the path you want me walking'.
Because I'm happy :)

Having a place set apart to keep these thoughts makes it special, makes it an intentional step towards Him. My first intention is to be kinder to people. To be full of gratitude for his grace, so full that it spills out to those around me. I want to show his grace. To my family, friends, strangers on the street. Just writing and making this intention has filled me with his love. I know I'm human, and flawed. I know I will not always be kind. But I want to be a light - as Jesus called us to be.

I honestly feel different after doing this. And it's so simple. Grab a notebook and a pen, you don't need a special journal from Barnes and Noble, and write down something you intend to change. About your behavior, your connections, your attitude - whatever is weighing on your heart. You know what it is. Pray as you are writing, turn the words themselves into prayer. You can have all the good intentions in the world, but without The Lord and his grace that's all they will remain - intentions. No true change of heart will come of it. That's the piece that is missing from the little introduction in the beginning of my journal. And it's too bad because that is truly the crucial piece. I know that without His grace I'm just sort of fumbling about, running on my own self importance and pride. It doesn't work, I tried it for many years.
Grace

I'm not going to do an intention a day the way the journal is meant to be used. I think that cheapens the intentions, making them disposable in a way, like it's just on to the next one. I want to actively work on being kinder, allowing the spirit to work through me. I want to be so full of his grace that the Devil has no room to get in. It all starts with the intention. Let Him take it from there.

I'll probably be doing a series on these intentions, and I would LOVE if you wanted to join in and keep your own intention journal. I would be honored if you would share them with me, and if you want to keep it private you could email me. I can just sense a big change coming, and I just want to shout His name from the rooftops. I want to be an instrument for change, his change. It has to start somewhere, right? Why not here? Why not now?


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2 comments:

  1. this post is one of my favorites. i'm down for some change of the intentional sort. count me in.
    :)

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    1. Thanks love it's one of my favorites too! I wish I could get more ppl to read it without being all 'hey look at me, hey guys read this thing, hey over here!!' .... Lol I was fairly sure I could count you in though and I simply can not wait to hear all about it xx

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