Do you make New Year’s resolutions or have a word for the year? I always have some goals I make and it’s exciting to have the fresh perspective of a new year filled with lots of new possibilities in front of me. In past years I have made house goals and I have some of those this year as well… but I just could not get away from a certain theme/goal/heart change that I wanted to make this year and focusing on a word that would encompass all of that seemed easier to keep it in front of me and easy to remember all year.
So my word for 2022 is….INTENTIONAL.
It can be easy to just let day after day pass, then week after week, and before we know it a month or many months have passed and what have we done that truly mattered? It can be easy to just get into survival mode as well, just accomplishing the things that absolutely have to be done yet not truly living up to our potential, striving to grow/change/do more of what matters. And to be honest, the last 2 years have not helped…I find myself waiting for the pandemic to be over, or for this to change or this to improve… but we aren’t promised #1 that those things will change, and #2 that tomorrow will even come! So no matter what is happening around me, no matter the everyday tasks that need to be completed I want to be INTENTIONAL in how I am living my life.
INTENTIONAL means living a life of purpose… ON purpose…a life of actions that follow my intentions. Living each moment in a way that brings glory to God … In a way that my minutes are not wasted, but used to fulfill God’s calling and purpose for my life.
Ephesians 5:15-16 – “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
I love that I can also use this word to focus on many different areas of my life and then take 1,2,3 of those areas each month to really work on. I’ll share some of my heart of areas I want to grow in/change and become or focus on being INTENTIONAL this year.
INTENTIONAL in my home
- remove clutter/really pare down the things we own – focusing on that in January/February
- work on some spaces that either never have been done or need to be refreshed – make our master bedroom a haven for us, do a kitchen project, redo our guest bathroom, laundry room project, work on exterior and yard in spring
- use our home to minister and be a blessing to others. Have people over at least twice a month starting in spring and especially during summer.
INTENTIONAL in my relationships
- first with family – spend focused/dedicated one-on-one time with my husband and little girl. monthly or bi-monthly date night with my husband and several times a week an intentional craft time/mommy date/something fun to do together with my little girl.
- pour into my little girl… INTENTIONALLY… I am influencing her in everything I do and that happens in our home, raising a little disciple for Jesus – what am I doing daily to build that in her life? Being intentional to mold her heart to love Jesus, to obey, to serve others, to develop skills even now she can use to serve her own family one day (teaching her basic cooking/cleaning skills)
- spend some one-on-one time with each of my nieces/nephew sometime this year
- friends – make time and schedule times to get together and build/nurture friendships. Also work on going beyond the surface chatter to sharing and opening up to talk and be open with things that matter. I need that in a friend and want to be that kind of friend. Build relationships that encourage me spiritually or as a homemaker/wife/mom and actively be doing the same to others.
- our theme at church this year is to SHARE CHRIST… and I want to be INTENTIONAL in doing that with those I come in contact with whether it just be in passing or it is with a neighbor that I can be an encouragement to or someone I am building a relationship with.
INTENTIONAL in my walk with God
- consistent daily time reading Bible… I do pretty well at this but weekends can be hit/miss and I really want to be intentional to try to not miss days.
- work on developing a better prayer life – I struggle with this. Time, what to say, being consistent…no interruptions. But oh how I want to grow this and be intentional in developing a heart of prayer and my prayer life.
- memorize 1 verse/passage a month.
INTENTIONAL as a homemaker
- serve my family well! meals, laundry, cleaning – do it with INTENTION, not drudgery but to serve my family.
- I really want to grow in and learn how to more from scratch food, natural/healthier options, gardening, using up every bit of food with no waste. I have been focusing on this some in January as I have been more intentional with planning meals, cooking from scratch, making my own bread, making my own chicken broth… and want to do this all through the year. Learning/doing something new/trying new recipes/switching out things for healthier choices. I’ll be sharing snippets of that in my Instagram stores. I want to do more canning this year, add more to our garden, learn other methods of preserving, possibly buy meat in bulk… this will be an ongoing thing as I learn and focus on different things each month.
- continue to focus on homeschooling with my little girl and doing it well!
INTENTIONAL with my health
- the last year or so has been a bit of a struggle – I just seem to easily catch every tiny cold that goes around/not feel well often and am working on making some changes. I have added lots of supplements but need to do more to build my body and immunity stronger.
- find and develop an exercise routine – I honestly don’t know what that will be yet. I’d love for it to be outside but the weather extremes make that hard. considering a bike type of equipment?
- make health a priority – drink more water… eat healthier…lose some weight – this is going to be an ongoing thing. working on eliminating or switching out/adding 1-2 things at a time.
INTENTIONAL with my business
- I have so many dreams and goals in this little space for my blog, for Instagram… and although it is definitely a priority as the income is a great help to our family…the time I have left after other priorities just doesn’t always allow me to do everything I want to do. BUT I want to continue to work hard, continue to use it tohelp others, continue to grow my business.
- blog one post a week – I used to do 3 posts a week before we moved and my little girl was born and I have slacked off so much on doing that. BUT I want to share posts that will be helpful/add value and be more conistent to share at least 1 a week.
- share more behind the scenes, simple day to day things but yet things that I hope will be of value – especially on Instagram stories. I did a day-in-the life there a few weeks ago and people loved it so will do that maybe every 6 weeks or so. Also trying to share meal ideas, just simple frugal tips, organizing tips, schooling ideas, lots of outdoor ideas I am sure once spring comes.
INTENTIONAL with my time
- this is a big one. I can waste so much time #1 on my phone mindlessly going from one app to another or one IG story to another, #2 not being focused on what I need to do that day so at end of day things that didn’t matter as much got done, but things that really mattered didn’t get done. So many of the above goals and plans can’t happen if I am not using my time well.
- I don’t know how to say I will work on this but just constantly being mindful of am I being INTENTIONAL with my time will help. Am I spending my time doing things that truly matter? Investing in others, in my relationship with the Lord, in my responsibilities as a wife/mother, in growing my business? Redeeming the time – spending my time with purpose.
So at the end of the year, I hope to be able to look back and see that I ON PURPOSE/INTENTIONALLY grew/changed/invested in these main areas in my life… Living each moment in a way that brings glory to God … In a way that my minutes are not wasted, but used to fulfill God’s calling and purpose for my life. INTENTIONAL living…
I’d love to hear your goals for 2022 or if you choose a word for the year? What is something you hope to accomplish, change, do this year?
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