Intentional Consistency
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As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in Him. Keep your roots deep in him and have your lives built on him.” Colossians 2:6-7
I have been assisting a friend whose living space got out of control after she experienced changes in her life through the death of family and other life changes. It began with bringing things into her space from her loved ones. Then work papers came home with her. Then stuff just took over. She had good intentions to sort through her possessions and organize her space, but life was full of demands, helping others, and just exhaustion. Her intentions were good but impossible to attain and be consistent.
So we developed an intentional plan. Here is the plan. First, she got an empty box and put it in her living space. Every day she would walk through her house for five minutes and find items that she was no longer using or did not have meaning or value to her anymore and she would put them in the box. Once the box was full, she would take it to her vehicle and drop it off to a donation center. She had to be intentional and consistent in order for this plan to work and begin to clear the clutter from her living space and develop a healthy environment.
An intention is an idea or task that you plan to carry out and complete. To be intentional means you have a purpose and plan. You are deliberate in doing something on your own. To be consistent is to do something the same way over time. It is constant, regular, dependable, reliable.
We may have a plan for our environment to make it healthy, but we may not be consistent in achieving our goal. We may have a plan to be physically healthy but are not consistent especially when it comes to eating foods that are not healthy but tempting. We may have a plan to exercise but are not consistent because of our schedules or the weather. We may have a desire to grow in our relationship with Jesus but are not consistent in spending time in Scripture and prayer and awareness of God’s Presence.
The clutter in our heads may resemble the clutter in our homes. We have the desire to be free of worry, anxiety, fear, regret, past hurts, anger, and the trauma and emotions of life. But the emotions pile up and consume without any relief. We are exhausted. The loss and grief and changes of life make it difficult to release these feelings and emotions because we have lost the one whom we share the burdens of life. Or we have nobody we trust.
What if we started being intentional with the feelings, emotions, pains and hurts that are within us and began to release them into God’s box five minutes every day? This may sound like a strange idea. We each have a lot of clutter in our heads that we hold on to that has no value or meaning in our lives. We hold on to it because we have been hurt and feel the intensity of loss. We cannot change what has happened. The only thing we can do is accept it has happened, grieve, and choose to step into this different life. We can choose to give to God what we cannot release and allow God’s touch to bring healing and hope.
This is a process and that is where consistency comes into the plan. We need to come to God every day and talk about what is inside of us and what is preventing us from living fully and abundantly into the life God designed for us to live. It is being intentional to focus on the present and God’s presence. It is being consistent in letting go of what you cannot change. It is not living as a victim but as a redeemed, forgiven child of a loving God.
God is intentional and consistent in His love for you and me. His grace and mercy is intentionally consistent. It never changes even when life changes. It is trusting God even in the pain and hurt of life. It is being intentional to forgive and not be controlled by the one who hurt you. It is being consistent in your awareness of God with you and living in the moment.
Let’s be intentionally consistent!
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