Living life with intentionality, from my observations, seems to be something that our culture doesn’t observe. Many people want to live from one thing to another, allowing anything that comes up and is “more fun”, “a better opportunity”, or simply “feels better” to trump their commitments. I totally understand that things come up in life that are more important then our standing commitments… but a pattern of ever changing plans sends up red flags for me.
I know very few people that have true standing priorities that they have scheduled and actually protect from being trumped over. Maybe this is simply my generation, but I seem to notice it across generations.
Along these lines are the people in church who participate in the big events, or help out in the more “up front” places yet always have something else when they are not involved. There seems to be an entire group of people who are not intentional about their time, relationships, or their spoken “commitments”.
I bring these things up because in my “humanness” I get tired of “always” being the person who is “there” no matter what. I hear other people say “oh yes I’m committed” but then they seem to always the next best opportunity for things in life that are more fulfilling for them. It’s this scenario that drains people. I believe that God will let things die for a purpose (thankfully nothing is dying in this case), and those things are usually obvious.
So, in the end I know that I’m in the right place, I need to be more intentional about speaking my expectations – and at the same time I think we need to look at being more intent about who we are as a Church. The sad thing is I see people at work that are more intentional and committed to the company than many people are to the church.
Now I think some people may read this as judgment but that is the furthest from the truth. My heart is for the health of our Church (the whole church, not just the little piece I’m involved with – read: my “local” church) and the health of my brothers and sisters. We need to be motivated to serve others and not just what “I” feel like.
Just some thoughts from the ride home.