Discerning Whitewater

I woke up Sunday morning feeling a little stressed.

November had been a rough month. I stepped on a scale at the beginning of November to find I had gained fifteen pounds since starting to work from home in March. Work duties. Single-Dad duties. Some relationship issues that I did not enjoy. COVID.

To name a few….

So Sunday morning, the word on my heart was “INTENTIONAL”.

I have heard that God the Father speaks to you like a river: calm, whisper, beautiful.

I prayed about being intentional.

I went to church and had a conversation with my friend Mike and his wife Sue. “Sue gives me lists. If I do more work during the day, I add them to the list then cross them off,” Mike told me.

Sue and I joked about Mike getting a treat if he gets all of the items on his list complete.

“I can’t even bring myself to make a list…. since March when this whole COVID thing started,” I told them.

And there it was, staring me in the face…. the root cause of my malaise. The parts of my life that I was very intentional – job, relationships, church duties- they were going fairly well.

But that was about it. I was not being intentional about the food I ate or my exercise…. in fact, I have been taking Cruiser to the dog park instead of the long walk around Lake LaGrange. I had been again ramping up my Bible reading after snoozing it for November. I had also thrown out a lot of food as I had been going out to eat.

So after a great sermon to start the Christmas season, and feeling a little unprepared emotionally to sing Joy to the World…. I went home and made a list, which I am working thru. Much success so far.

But the bigger picture came to me:

• Be intentional for Christmas. Plan events with the kids. Make a list of what I need to buy for gifts.
• Be intentional with the kids. We haven’t read The Hobbit for a few weeks now.
• Be intentional with my relationships. Pray about them beforehand so I am prepared.
• Be intentional with my meals. Make meal plans, so everyone is happy and we don’t spend too much $$$ (but I am sure Gus’ Pizza doesn’t mind 🙂 ). And rack my meals and calories.
• Be intentional with my finances. I do a pretty good job, but I can do a little better.
• Be intentional with my exercise. Take Cruiser for the longer hike and restart jogging.
• Be intentional with my Bible reading.
• Be intentional with my prayer.
• Be intentional with my thought patterns; capture those thoughts that are simply not appropriate.

So it has been a good ride since this re-evaluation…. trying to give myself a physical/mental/spiritual tune up.

So …. there you go. My first post in over a month. I will be intentional and continue to post. I have a ton of great topics…. Til then, much Peace and Joy and Love to you,

-mike

Because nothing lasts forever, not even cold November Rain…..