INTENTIONS, postponed


I was tidying up my blog today, attempting to tie up some loose ends, starting the New Year fresh. And this is the embarassing part... on December 30th of 2009 I began a blog called INTENTIONS which never got any farther than a title and date -- a year old draft about intentions. The irony of it all. An intended blog that never saw the light of day. An intention, postponed.

Surely I don't remember now what I wanted to say a year ago. I don't know if I had a good intention for 2010 to share -- or whether it occured to me that something(else) I intended to do in 2009 never came to fruition.

I suppose that's the thing about intentions... they're never about now. Their about an imagined future whether it's 5 minutes, 5 weeks, or 5 months in the future. I intend to... How do you fill in the blank? Do you have intentions for 2011?

One of my dad's favorite quotes was: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It was right up there with: never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. I probably heard those words of wisdom before I could speak.

I'd like to be a person who followed through on what I intended to do. I'm not. I intend to call, to send a note, to run an errand... and before I know it POOF the intention slips from my radar and when it once more appears -- I'm filled with remorse. Do postponed intentions always produce guilt?

This year, I'm not going to postpose intentions-because I'm not going to entertain them. I'm going to follow the wisdom of letting my yes, be yes and my no, be no-without a squishy intention getting in the way. I'm finally going to heed my dad's well worn philosophy; it was always good advice. I'm going to live in the present moment with all it offers me -- and in return, give all of myself to it without regret or delay.

I think it will take some work to leave those little promises to myself behind. They were so comfortable for a while. They soothed my conscience right up until they turned around to bite me! Maybe your experience is similar. Do postponed intentions litter your life?

We live at a time and in a culture where no one much expects you to keep your word --not even your word to yourself. But as it was for me, your Father does.

Let's agree together to not 'intend' to do something tomorrow that is within our power to do today. Let's agree together to not pacify the good we know to do, with an intention. Let's be people of our word, let's live in present, let's celebrate living in the moment that God has given us; that is unless you intend something else. BLESSINGS AND JOY, THE CELTIC MONK
P.S. And right now I am going to delete the draft of that other blog on intentions.

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