looking back over the past few months, I am noticing a trend. Each month is “defined” by a theme – summed up in a word or phrase. March was denial – as I started the Lenten season without much cheese. April was self-care.

I began reading a new book over the weekend – Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World –  by Shelly Miller. It is amazing. I am 44 pages in and I have already made the determination that this will become a constant in my rotation of books to reflect upon. Soo many passages speak right to my heart. But the paragraph below grabbed my attention even more than the others:

“We embrace intentions for work, academics, relationships, finances, recreation, and faith, but what about intentions for rest? Most of us don’t spend time thinking about how a day of rest might look in a busy week. We don’t dare dream about rest outside of paid vacation time because a whole day for resting seems unrealistic, so far out of reach that pondering the possibilities feels futile. As a result, we block out the possibility of rest altogether. Intentions about rest seem silly, unnatural, an extravagance in wastefulness, especially with the to-do lists strung out over every room in the house. Rest is ill-defined when we value time and our worth based on productivity.” (page 44)

the definition of intention is this: a thing intended; an aim or plan. The past 5 years or more I have worked hard to be intentional in certain aspects of my life – but that is different. and all of my intentions aka “plans” turn into never-ending to-do lists. but what if they were more about dreams. goals. aspirations. just the page prior to the passage above the author shared a quote:

“If faith is being sure of what we hope for, then being unsure of what we hope for is the antithesis of faith, isn’t it? Well-developed faith results in well-defined prayers, and well defined prayers result in a well-lived life.” (page 43)

I have lamented for years that my prayer life needs a jump-start. in reality, I suck at making it a priority. the paragraph above is a wake-up call. like with everything else, you get what you put in.

Since no one else reads these – I am going to end here – with half conceived thoughts, that I believe may be planting the seeds for something bigger.

what are my intentions?