Intentional Direction

I am 51 years old.  In the "olden days" I would have been lucky to live this long.  In today's world I probably have 20 years left, maybe 30, hopefully not 40! (though my grandma never wanted to live that long either, and she died last year at 99 years old.)

I am coming up on a cross-roads in my life.  This week I got to thinking about what I want to do with the time that I have left in this world.  I am in one of those spaces where I have already accomplished a lot.  I am coming up on that time where my greatest goal of raising my children the best I could is drawing to a close, and while I know you are never truly done raising children, my time with them under my direct supervision and instruction will soon end.  I think most people ask this question sometime around this transition time.  What now??  What do I want to do for the rest of my life?  For me, I also asked myself, "What will I regret if I do not do it?"  I want to continue to live an intentional life, not just have life happen to me.

These questions just seemed to stare me in the face this week, as though I had to figure them out right now.  I was blessed to have a chunk of quiet, uninterrupted time to myself on Thursday, so I took the opportunity to pray, meditate, ponder and write, and I came up with some wonderful answers that were things I want for myself, and that I also felt were in alignment with what God wants for me.  I found that in my heart of hearts there are 3 things I want to do, and 3 ways I want to be.

For me, one of my hearts desires centers around spending time in my home doing the things I love.  I don't want to keep being "too busy" to do the things I love for the rest of my life, which could totally happen if I am not intentional.  My other desires are about loving and serving those around me, making other's lives better, making a difference in my little corner of the world.

My 3 ways that I want to be have to do with body care and health, financial stability and close and healthy family relationships.

When I was younger I had so much in front of me that I could not narrow down all that I wanted to do and be.  Surprisingly, over the years I have discovered talents, abilities and passion for things I did not know I had when I was younger.  Besides getting a good education, raising a family was the one intentional thing thing I knew I wanted to do.  It was my biggest and longest goal, and has taken the better part of 30 years to accomplish.  It was so huge, and pretty much consumed my energy, time and thoughts. (I have 7 children)  I would not have missed it for the world.    It was the most important thing I wanted to do.  It has been a beautiful, devastating and eye-opening journey.  Not a dull moment and the most worthwhile thing I could have done with my life.  But now I am near that cross-roads I mentioned earlier, that space where the children are almost raised, and I can now choose a new intentional direction to go (an option that I have not been open to in nearly 30 years).  It is an interesting and somewhat exciting place to be.

As you consider where you are at in your own life, whether it be in the middle of raising a family, a demanding career, or at a cross-roads yourself, I encourage you to take the time to ponder the path you are on.   Is it the one you want to be on?  Is it going the direction you want to go?  Get clear and be intentional about what you want out of life, what God wants for you, and be headed in that direction.  The settled and peaceful feeling that comes from having that direction in place is priceless.