Wise Men Still Seek Him

I always pray and ask the Lord for a word or a verse that I can live the next year by.  It gives me a sense of purpose and of meaning.  I do this rather than make a New Years resolution.  Its gentler and much more meaningful.  There have been years where I stuck by that word or verse like a leech and other years I haven’t done so well.  I would say I did not do as well in 2018 with my word ‘stewardship’ .   I already have my word for 2019 and it happens to be ‘Intentional’ and I’m going to give ‘stewartship’ another round as it occurs to me that I could have made more progress with ‘stewardship’ if I had been ‘intentional’ about it.  These wonderful pursuits rarely transpire by accident or default or ‘just because’ we have to be ‘intentional’ about them. We have to live our lives on purpose. Not be swayed by every wind of doctrine. Not just react to whatever the wind blows our way.  In years gone by I remember Steven Covey talking about being proactive.  This is a skill I need to hone.

When I talk about stewardship, I mean stewardship of everything.  My time.  My finances. My health. My relationships.  My skills and talents. My spiritual life.  And when I talk about ‘intentionality’, it also touches every single one of these areas.  I believe once I become intentional I will stop feeling like a victim because I will be in control of me.  Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 says this: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.  They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly.  I do not box as one beating the air.  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.