Embrace Intentionality
"They didn't mean to do that."
"It wasn't my intention..."
"That purpose was not part of the design."
"Who in their right mind would choose that path?"
When you are planning a trip, how often do you set out without a destination in mind, without mapping out a route, without garnering some manner of awareness of where your journey might take you, whether it is to the doctor, the grocery store, or a vacation, touring historical landmarks or other significant sights? When we embark on a physical trip, we deliberately plan. We make arrangements along the way for staying overnight, if the trip will be that long. For a shorter jaunt, we might plan errands to take care of on our way home. This includes making certain to have bags available for purchases, room in the car for anything big, projectiles and edibles separated from those that might take advantage of opportunities. Going on a walk or a hike means planning the route, taking supplies - first aid, water, trail guide. One of the goals of any of these trips is to avoid unintended consequences.
During Lent, we are encouraged to embrace intentionality in our faith lives. That is the purpose of various Lenten disciplines. It is not to see who can endure the biggest hardship, but to cultivate the intentionality necessary to feel the presence of God in our lives. This intentionality will outwardly look different for each person, but the core of this calculation is critically thinking about our current habits that have the unintended consequence of separating us from God and our neighbors of any definition, and deliberately making a different choice, one that leaves us more open and receptive to God's grace. As we relearn how to rely on this river of spiritual strength, we will encounter a faithful God who leads us through hardship, blazing a trail for us that we must intentionally follow.
When we follow God with thoughtfulness, eschewing the reactionary spasms that plague so many interactions between differing ideologies, we will be led to places we never thought we would go. We will find ourselves having conversations with people who represent cultures and thought processes vastly different than the comforting and familiar. Deliberately following God's open grace means finding God in the unfamiliar. Embrace Intentionality --> See God in new faces --> Live without fear --> Work for God's Justice.
~Rev. Andrea Joy Holroyd
Good Books for the New Year:
The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch)by Carroll Spinney
In Pastor Andrea's "Currently Reading" pile:
To Read:
