Fall.
I love fall. I love each season.
October came fast though!! Really fast. Normally, I have an idea of what my next month's focus will be, this month, not a clue. I thought about it yesterday and toyed with some ideas, but today it was given to me.
Last month I focused on be fighting. This focus helped keep me calm in the craziness of yet another surgery. It also taught me a lot about prayer. I will continue to be fighting. I am healing well from my surgery and I am so thankful that I can report the nodule was benign!!!!! I am so thankful that Jesus kept me calm and answered that prayer. The nodule was pressing on my trachea, so I am also thankful it is out!! I can even workout as tolerated now!!! We will check my thyroid levels in a few weeks. Check your neck y'all!!!
During my downtime I have spent a lot of time alone, reading, watching Gilmore Girls (how did I never watch this show before??), sleeping, and relaxing. It has been restful, but I confess it has been lonely as well. I have checked Facebook a lot!
One of the books I am reading is Simply Tuesday by Emily P. Freeman, she writes about friendship in one of her chapters and as I read I felt relief to know I am not alone. I am like her, I know a lot of people and have many acquaintances. I can make an acquaintance just about anywhere. Her words that convicted me the most were "I could either continue as I was, waiting for people to show up and surround me, or I could decide to move myself toward people." I often sit around waiting for people. My husband has heard me complain a lot about my lack of people.
As an adult making connecting friendships is hard. We are all so busy with our routines, homes, work, kids, family, and at the end of the day instead of putting an effort into friendships we crash into our beds with our books, our reality TV, and our Facebook. This seems easier than risking putting yourself out there, even though you desire to connect. I like Facebook, but it really is the lazy way of being friends. Don't get me wrong I have a friend in my inner circle, but I believe God wants that circle to grow and not just in the number of friends I have on Facebook. For that circle to grow, I have to be intentional.
So that is this month's focus to be intentional.
Emily P. Freeman says, "The truth is, people need our with-ness. They don't need for us to impress them with how spiritual we are. They need to know they aren't alone." For people to know they are not alone we have to be intentional about sharing with them and spending time with them.
I have many other things I need/want to be intentional about, so this month's focus is about that too.
I need to be intentional about my diet on the weekends. I do fairly well on the weekdays, but weekends are tough. And I haven't done well since I had surgery.
I need to be intentional about time with my kids, my husband.
I need to be intentional about organizing those papers, cleaning out that closest.
I need to be intentional with workouts, even more than workouts, stretching!!
I need to be intentional about my faith.
I want to be intentional about scrapbooking.
What do you need to be intentional about??