Living Intentinoally: Nourishing your soul part 2: Will

Will = The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action. Free discretion. Self control, self discipline. Wish or desire 

You are so much more powerful than you might realize. I think many out there would rather not believe they are powerful because if they did, they would realize that their choices, actions, reactions, attitudes and consequences of those things (good and bad) largely fall on their own shoulders. They don't want the responsibility. It's easier to shift that responsibility to others. 

But what does that accomplish? Absolutely nothing. Nothing for you and nothing for anyone else. You may think it does, but it doesn't. One of my favorite speakers and authors is a man by the name of Danny Silk. His parenting series called Loving Our kids on Purpose is excellent and I wish I had discovered it when my girls were little. The foundation is based on the fact that we are powerful, others are powerful and we are responsible for our choices and the way we respond to others. He has several other books that are great as well. It is important that we are intentional with our will because it is vital that we feel empowered and others feel empowered to make good choices, exercises self control and self discipline AND not be afraid to have wishes and desires. 

Think about the definition of "will" above. What does this look like for you personally? Are the choices you make intentional and working towards your health (mentally, physically, spiritually) or do you have an "I just don't care" attitude. From getting up in the morning to choosing to respond with grace instead of anger, to choosing to get gas now before you run out on the side of the road. These all exercise our "will", our ability to choose. Even when we don't think we're choosing, we really are! Yes,  we hear the phrase "against our will", or "I didn't choose this?" and yes, that is true in some cases, but I would venture to guess that 98% of the time we have a choice, some kind of choice, even if something is not what we wanted. You might not have chosen to be laid off of work, or have your spouse leave you, or a loved one pass away, but you have a choice as to how you will respond to each scenario that comes across your life. Do you embrace your responsibility or do you try to pass blame on to someone else?

A few quotes I have always liked when it comes to choices are:

"You are free to make whatever choice you want. But you are not free from the consequences of that choice".

That seems harsh, but it's true. Especially with our children. Okay, you (child) may have made the choice to speed and wreck the car, but now the consequence may be that you don't get to use the car for awhile until trust can be re-established. You may made the choice to sleep in on a work day, now the consequence is running around like a chicken with your head cut off because you chose to run late.

"Everything in your life is a reflection of a choice you made. If you want different results, make different choices". 

That's a good one. I see so often on Facebook people moaning and groaning about things in their life and I want to shout "then do something different"!!! Even if is't just changing your attitude. For me personally, I would like to lose some weight and get in shape...ummmm..that's not going to happen unless I decide to do something different. I have a choice to make. 

"Every choice we make has an end result".

That end result might be extremely positive or it might cause heartbreak, or frustration, joy, adventure, etc...but there will be an end result. 

As you go through the weekend, be more conscious of the choices you make, pay attention to the results of those choices. Tape some quotes in places you'll be reminded. 

Oh and one other thing...God is not looking at every choice you make and judging you harshly on them. He's not going "you idiot, what were you thinking". No, just like even when my kids make a not so good choice, I don't beat them down about it. No, I love them, encourage them, help them see why that probably wasn't a great choice and let them walk through the consequence of it. One of our phrases to our girls has been "how's that working out for you, how'd that work out for you". I imagine God might say the same thing. So give yourself a break, say "well that didn't work out for me very well", pick yourself up, dust yourself off and do something different the next time. Sometimes we just need to shift our mindset especially if we are in a circumstance that maybe we can't get out of at the moment or have been hurt by a relationship. Shift the way you think. 



With Joy Unquenchable,