Year of Living Intentionally #7

Flowers for Me!

In our busy world with so many ways to communicate, I sometimes don’t communicate at all. What that looks like for me is that I don’t take time to have lunch with a friend or even just to call my friends on the phone with no agenda.

I scheduled and made time to have lunch with a friend. Imagine my surprise when she walked in carrying a bouquet of flowers for me! It wasn’t a special occasion, just that she purchased flowers on the way to meet me.

Each day when I smell the aroma and look at the flowers it reminds me of what is important. All of those texts, emails and voice mails can wait because I want to be intentional. Wow, I like this idea of living intentionally.

Year of Living Intentionally #6

Year of Living Intentionally #6

Sometimes I don’t “allow” myself to read a book. The book The Go-Giver by Bob Burg has been on my reading list for over five years! It was a quick read that only took me about one and a half hours. What took me so long to put it at the top of my list? Ahhh . . . living intentionally!
 
Here’s the synopsis of the five principles of a Go-Giver:
 
The Law of Value
Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
 
The Law of Compensation
Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
 
The Law of Influence
Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
 
The Law of Authenticity
The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
 
The Law of Receptivity
The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

Year of Living Intentionally #5

Year of Living Intentionally #4

Walking Down Memory Lane

What better way to live intentionally than to walk down memory lane? My mother told me that she baked Aunt Syl’s Apple Cake a few weeks ago. It reminded me of picking apples in my Grandmother Nannie’s, backyard for her to can apple butter, make apple pies and of course share with the neighbors including Nannie’s sister-in-law, Aunt Syl. As I picked apples from the tree, I ate as many as I put in the bucket. It was no surprise that I had a “green apple tummy ache.”

Thinking I would like to make the famous Apple Cake, I looked through my grandmother’s recipe box that I had decoupaged for her more than 35 years ago. I laughed at the faded recipes in her distinctive handwriting on the back of Dutch Made Cookie order forms from the local distribution center. Oddly enough, there are yellowed blank recipe cards that were never used in the back of the box.

As I thumbed through her recipes, my mouth watered as I remembered her incomparable refrigerator rolls, scrumptious mozzarella pie and “never fail” one dish pie crust. Then I remembered . . . my grandmother never baked from a single recipe! She made it up as she went along. It amazes me how she knew the exact amount of every spice, milk or lard to put in the recipe. And I never recall a single dish that wasn’t delicious.

In my quest, I did not find the famous Aunt Syl Apple Cake recipe. So, Mom came to the rescue. The cake, and all the memories that came with it, is in the oven right now. By being intentional I was able to slow down and posthumously honor Nannie and Aunt Syl. But what was even better was being able to share cooking across the miles with my Mother.

Raw Apple Cake

Aunt Syl’s Recipe

4 cups chopped apples

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 cup nuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sprinkle sugar on apples. Let stand one hour. Sift dry ingredients. Add apples. Add oil. Add beaten eggs. Add Vanilla and nuts. Stir to mix. Bake 350 about 45 minutes.

Year of Living Intentionally #3

This song sung by my college roommate came to mind as I was thinking about how to live intentionally. So, I reached out to some old friends because . . .

Time Passes By

Sung by Kathy Mattea

Dreams drift away like leaves on the water
They roll down the river and slip out of sight
Too many times we do what we ought
Put off 'til tomorrow what we'd really rather do tonight
And later realize

Time passes by, people pass on
At the drop of a tear, they're gone
Let's do what we dare, do what we like
And love while we're here before time passes by

Thoughts are like pennies we keep in our pockets
They're never worth nothing 'til we give them away
But love's like a promise in an un-opened letter
Where nights full of pleasure seldom see the light of day
When life gets in the way

Time passes by, people pass on
At the drop of a tear, they're gone
Let's do what we dare, do what we like
And love while we're here before time passes by

Time passes by, people pass on
At the drop of a tear, they're gone
Let's do what we dare, do what we like
And love while we're here before time passes by

Songwriters: Susan Longacre / Jon Vezner

Time Passes By lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

A Year of Living Intentionally #2

In the words of Gilda Radner from the documentary With Love, Gilda.

“I had wanted to wrap this up in a neat little package, about a girl who was a comedian from Detroit who becomes famous in New York with all the world coming her way, gets this horrible disease of cancer, fights it, then miraculously things tie up and she gets well.”

“I wanted a perfect ending, so I sat down to write the book with the ending in place before there even was an ending. Now I’ve learned the hard way. It is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what’s going to happen next.”

2019: A Year of Living Intentionally

At the end of each year, I make a list of the best and the worst things that happened that year and the lessons I learned. Based on that, I choose a theme for the next year.

One year, my theme was a Giving Challenge. I gave something away every day for a year and blogged about it at GivingChallenge.Blogspot.com. Another year, Tim and I created a Gratitude Jar and each week we wrote on a small piece of paper one thing we were grateful for and then read them on New Year’s Eve.

My theme for 2019 is “Living Intentionally”. Over the past month, the word “intention” keeps coming to me in different ways.

For instance, a friend recommended the book “Will of God” that described the intentional will of God versus the circumstantial will of God. Another time, I was questioned on the intent of my written words. Those instances, among other times, the word intention was like a neon light in front of me screaming for me to notice it. All of this gave me “cause to pause”.

I intend to ask myself the question, “As I go through each day what do I ‘intend’ today to be?” Instead of waiting for the day to define itself based on my interaction with people and their response to me, how can I positively shape it for myself and others?

So, during this year of living intentionally I will blog about what is on my heart. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions as to how you live intentionally each day.

Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others.                           Philippians 4:8