Intentions or goals? What's the Difference and Why Does It Matter?

Intentions or goals? What's the Difference and Why Does It Matter?

I have never been one who put much stock in setting New Year resolutions. Setting them never made much of an impact on my life, or took me very far into the year. Yet, I have been one who has continually sought change in my life. Not change for the sake of change itself, but rather a continual desire to become who God desires me to be. To me this is at the heart of spiritual formation. Over the years the practice of choosing a word to guide me through the year has been a significant tool to help with the goal of "Christ being formed" in me. (Galatians 4:19)

In conjunction with using a word as a lens on life through the year, has been the practice of setting intentions. A few weeks ago my friend, Bernice Hopper, asked me what I thought was the difference between intentions and goals. Here was my answer to her:

"I think the main difference between goals and intentions is in how you view them. Goals are usually specific in nature and are future oriented. I want to save 100.00 each month or I want to lose 20 pounds. Intentions are usually focused more on daily living in the present moment and lean toward habit forming and lifestyle. Both play a role. In fact intentions can help us meet goals. But I tend to prefer intentions because I think they help create a lifestyle or mindset instead of just completing tasks. Intentions can help us become the type of person we want to be. So instead of simply setting a goal of how many pounds I want to lose, instead my intentions are to eat healthier for my overall health. As I work on that I may or may not lose the pounds but will gain so many other health benefits. If I simply have a goal of losing ten pounds then every time the scale doesn't change I feel like I have failed."

Today I would like to expand on my answer to Bernice and explore a bit deeper into the topic. Here is a brief, basic rundown of goals and intentions from various definitions I found online:

Goals	Intentions
Future oriented	Present oriented
Concrete, tangible, specific	Aspirational, values-based characteristics
Action oriented	Way of being
Usually have a fixed outcome	Often ebb and flow as you grow
Generally more outwardly focused	Generally more inwardly focused
Usually focused on an end result	More focused on day-to-day living

I think both goals and intentions are valuable. However, I do tend to lean more toward using intentions, and here is the main reason why. To me, setting intentions is about making choices in my daily living that focus on who I want to be, more so than on what I want to get done. And this is based on a value for me: Doing flows out of being. Who I am is more important than what I do, and I want what I do to flow out of who I am. Who I am is about my character and my heart. I can change behaviors or habits and still have no change in my character or outlook. Because I also value authenticity - I want what I do to reflect who I am, or put another way - I want my actions to reflect my heart. And my heart is continually being transformed as I intentionally seek to be formed in the image of Christ.

So, I focus on intentions when looking at how I want to live out my word of the year. And I keep my values before me as I set those intentions. Then setting goals can help me put action to my intentions. But all of it is determined by my "why" - the values that guide my life. 

Some of my core values are:

• Faith first. Matthew 6:33 "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" has long been a guiding verse for me. 
• Doing flows out of being. Who I am guides what I do. You see this principle laid out in many of Paul's letters in the Bible. He gives a doctrinal foundation of who we are in Christ before he goes into instructions on how we are to live.
• Wholeness is the goal - seeking health in spirit, mind, body, emotions (Luke 10:27). Over the past few years I have used each of these areas as a guide to set my intentions.
• Authenticity. I highly value honesty and being real. I want the outside to match the inside. It may not always be pretty, but it is character shaping.
• Life long learning. Especially in the pursuit of spiritual formation, but other areas too. I am always curious!

So, then, each year when I have chosen a word through reflection and prayer, I set intentions for my word to be lived out through the year using my values as a guideline. I shared my mind map for my word a few weeks ago.

In keeping with the theme of my word, fruit, I used agricultural words to head each of my areas of focus. And my areas of focus are divided into the four areas of life that make us whole beings. 

Spiritual: This is a big focus for me this year. Since fruit is not something we can produce ourselves, my desire is to focus on being more dependent on the Holy Spirit. It is He who produces the fruit of Christ in our lives. I continually battle my stubborn, independent, I-can-do-it-myself personality, so I need to continually be intentional about leaning into and living by the Spirit. 

Mind: For me, much of soul care is about the continual effort of training the mind, thoughts, and heart to the mind of Christ. Last year I made great strides in overcoming my doubt that I could memorize Scripture passages and am going to expand in that practice this year. Other spiritual practices such as prayer, journal writing, and reading help train my heart and mind as well.

Body: I really just added this category over the past few years as I have learned more about the body being an active part of our spiritual life. So areas of healthier eating and building exercise habits can help me grow healthier and stronger physically, and, I believe, aid the other areas as well. 

Finally emotions: Emotional and mental energy are so important to me. The more I understand my personality and being an introvert, the more I have learned to make time for self-care - the things that restore my energy and help me have a healthy outlook.

From here, setting intentions that are driven by my values, I can then go on and develop goals - action steps that will help me live out these intentions. Things such as reviewing my daily schedule and rearranging things or removing things to make time for walking at the park, which actually helps me build my exercise habit and has the added benefit of being out in nature, which I have learned is something that helps my emotional and mental outlook. I can now go through each area of focus and spend time planning steps that will help me live out my intentions and see healthy fruit produced as a result of following the Spirit's leading in each area.

Here are some questions that show the process in a nutshell:

Your values help determine your why: What are the values that guide your life? 

What are your hopes for your word this year? 

Intentions help determine your how: What intentions would help you live out your word in a manner that help you be who you want to be? Do they align with your values?

Goals help determine your what: What goals will help you move toward your intentions?

Valerie Sjodin will be also have a post today about intentions on her blog: valeriesjodin.com 

Living Your Word 2020 Opportunity!

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

Using A Mind Map With My Word

Using a Mind Map With My Word

The challenge with using a word to guide you through the year is how to keep that word present throughout the whole year. We all start strong in January when everyone's focus is on fresh starts and setting goals, but the energy and motivation can often start to fizzle a early as February. This is where our Living Your Word of the Year group comes in. We share ways to engage with and practice your word of the year all year long.

So far I have looked at how I chose my word for the year and about my journal here. Last week I shared a video and a worksheet on how to do a word study in the Bible for your word, as did Valerie Sjodin. Bernice Hopper shared last week about how her word of the year changed to a new word. Information about joining our group can be found at the bottom of this post. 

This week we are focusing on using a Mind Map with your word. A Mind Map is a way of visually brainstorming. I am a visual person so it often helps me to use a Mind Map when I am trying to get clarity or to organize my thoughts. At litemind.com they describe a Mind Map like this:

"A Mind Map is a visual tool that helps structure information. A graphical way to represent ideas and concepts."

I used a Mind Map to organize and visualize how I want to live out my word this year. My word is fruit and I've decided to use an agricultural metaphor with my word this year, much like Scripture does. So I researched some verbs that are agricultural and have set up my intentions based on these words. By the way, I will be talking about the difference between goals and intentions in the next few weeks.

Another way I'll use a Mind Map is to try to sort through and organize things I am studying. Here is one I did for Galatians 5:22-23, where my word for the year, fruit, is found. I found some great articles and grammatical information and I was trying to sort it all out in my head. Mapping it out really helped as it gave me a visual.

I don't think there is a right way or a wrong way to do Mind Maps, but I do think they are a great tool!

Living Your Word 2020 Opportunity!

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

Advent Day 2: Immanuel

Advent Words Day 2: Immanuel

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  John 1:1

John tells us that "the Word was with God" from the very beginning. The Greek word John chose to use for "with" is pros. It is the most intimate form of the word "with". It indicates an intimate personal relationship; communion between God the Father and God the Son. This word could be translated that the Word was "face-to-face with" God. They share an eternal intimacy with each other. Pastor Don Fortner says of the Word,

"He was always with Him, and is with Him, and ever will be with Him." 

John opens his first letter with a similar message:
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:1-3

In the Christmas story, told in Matthew's gospel, we hear of a significant title that would be given to the infant Jesus.

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)."  Matthew 1:21-23.

In this season of Advent, we join the multitudes of believers before us who waited for the prophesied arrival of the One who would be born to "save His people from their sins"; the One who would be called Immanuel. We look back at the words given to us by God through the Apostles - the ones who saw and heard and touched the Word of Life - their words bring us God's eternal life. We read in their words about the close fellowship of God the Father and God the Son, and the promise of that same fellowship is offered to us in Immanuel - God with us.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:29-23

"This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them." 1 John 4:13-16

Join me in responding creatively to the Advent Words in John's prologue. You can share your creative response on Instagram using #adventwords2019 or join the Words Challenge Facebook Group and share your creative response there.

A Time for Seasons to Change

A Time for......

I love the start of new seasons, both on the calendar and in life. I'm not one who fears change. Change is good. Change helps us grow. Without change life would become stagnant. I also don't advocate change simply for the sake of change, but if nothing ever changed, neither would we. And this is not God's plan for us. He desires that life in Him be marked by transformation - continuously. Why? Because transformation - change, growth, maturing - is a process. A life-long process. A process that we need to welcome and embrace, good and bad, joy and pain.

Leaving the season of Summer is bittersweet for me. School starts here in mid-August and the slower pace I experienced in July and early August is waning. I like the slower pace of Summer. The renewal of energy as the busyness of my job and ministry slows down for a time. At the same time, I am (or will be) overjoyed to leave the heat of Summer behind. I look forward to the warm days and cool nights of Fall - if the heat waves ever end!

I love the change of the seasons, especially Fall and Spring, when the change is vivid and visual. The change of season often stirs within a desire to reflect on where you are at in life, what you are leaving and where you are going. 

My summer was busy this year in different ways than it is in the school year. I launched my first online class in July, so June and early July held lots of prep and learning curves. We remodeled our offices at work, which meant lots of planning, packing, moving boxes and furniture - and the fun part - picking out paint and carpet and lobby furniture! I started exploring the possibility of writing a book about spiritual formation with a friend. We even took a writing retreat in July to brainstorm ideas. We'll see how that goes in future months. I held a Words challenge in August, the first that was not tied to a season on the church calendar, as Advent and Lent Words were. Using key words to go through the book of Colossians was at first a challenge, a different way to go through a book of the Bible. But as we went I really began to enjoy seeing how the words were woven through the book and often interacted with teach other. I think the Words challenges connect my passions of art and Bible study together in significant and creative ways and I will be exploring more challenge ideas in the future. In addition, the Words Challenge group is a vital, active and encouraging community and I have really enjoyed watching it develop and become a place of significance for so many people. I'm so grateful to everyone who participates there.

So, as we change from one season to another, we also begin a new theme in the Everyday Journals group. Our theme for September is "A Time for..." We want to take some time this month and examine our word for the year as well as look at seasons and change using Ecclesiastes 3 as our guide. In the weeks ahead we'll have some questions to help you reflect on where you are at in your journey with your word for the year. Watch for further blog posts from Bernice, Valerie and I surrounding this theme. Join us! Information about the group and links to our blogs is at the end of this post.

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Creativity of the Creator ~ July Everyday Journal Group Theme

Creativity of the Creator ~ July Everyday Journal Group Theme

Creativity of the Creator

I love our theme in the Everyday Journal group for July! I love walking in nature with camera in hand and catching the beauty of what God has created. Nature themes land on the pages of my art journals quite often, probably more than any other theme outside of faith itself. 

We cannot be in nature and not experience the creativity of our Creator is. We look at sunsets and snow capped mountains. We hear the constant rhythm of waves crashing on the beach or thunder rolling across the sky. We experience the vast variety of birds and flowers ad trees. Everything in the world around us points us back to God, the Creator of all things. Our proper response, our immediate response, is awe and wonder and praise and glory to the One whose creativity is so vast and amazing.

As we ponder God's creativity in nature we are reminded that we also are His creation.

"In the beginning, God created..." Genesis 1:1

The Bible begins with this statement in Genesis 1:1. God takes nothing and makes something. He took what was formless and dark (Genesis 1:2) and made light and land and oceans and stars and vegetation and animals and on and on. (Read Genesis 1:3-25) And then God made His masterpiece.

"Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." Genesis 1:26

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them. " Genesis 1:27

Again God took nothing, dust, and He breathed His life into it and created beings in His own image. (Genesis 2:7) Because we are created in the very image of God, we also are creative beings.
Author Janice Elsheimer, in her book The Creative Call, says,

"With God's Spirit working in us, we can speak the words he gives us (in whatever artist language we use to express ourselves) and become cocreators with Him. That is what being a Christian artist means: Our art is not necessarily Christian in content, but it is centered in the truth that the Holy Spirit reveals."

This month as we explore the theme of nature and the creativity of God, let it also remind us of who we are ~ created beings made in the image of God to be creative also. May this month serve as a time of praise and worship for who God is and all that He has created.

"Great are the works of the LORD: they are pondered by all who delight in them."   Psalm 111:2

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Everyday Journal Update

So far, just six weeks into the year, I am enjoying the challenge of doing most of my art and recording of insights for my word for the year in one journal. The "challenge" part for me is that I love to make (and start) journals and handmade books, so combining everything in one journal doesn't leave much room for making new journals. But I'm committed!

Here a a few of the pages I've worked on over the past few weeks:

My word for 2018 is FLOW. Each year I am amazed at how picking a word for the year ends up being a filter through which you see so many other things. The word,  or the concept of the word and my intentions for it seems to pop up everywhere. Last week I was digging deeper into the context of a passage we had been discussing in a sermon prep meeting. The passage was Hebrews 12:3-13, which will be the focus of the message in our worship service tomorrow at church. I was struck by so much in our conversation surrounding this passage that I decided to look a bit more into the context, which took me back to the verses preceding it. As I studied Hebrews 12:1-2 my word popped up.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Now, my word flow does not appear in this passage. But one of the main reasons I chose this word was that I want to live more in the flow of God's Spirit this year, and as I read these verses I was struck with a thought that was connected with my word: I cannot live in the flow of God's Spirit if I am hindered or weighed down and entangled, both by the things in life that weigh me down and/or by the sin I struggle with. I also think that my practice through Lent may come out of this revelation in some way. We'll see. Anyway, I enjoy how my word will pop up when least expected. I also love how living and active the Word of God is in our lives when we delve into it!

Of course, I respond with art and recording it in my Everyday Journal, so that I take it deeper and have a reminder of how God spoke to me through these verses.

I wrote a bit of hidden thoughts under the tag.

Six weeks into 2018! On some level it's hard to believe that this amount of time has already passed. On another level it also feels like it has already been 2018 for quite some time! I hope the new year so far has been filled with revelation and inspiration for you, in faith and in art. How are you doing with your word this year? We have conversations going on about our Everyday Journals and our word for the year over in the Everyday Journals ~ Living Out Your Word for the Year Facebook group. Join us!

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Also, join us for Lent Words 2018 -  A Creative Challenge Through the Season of Lent. More about it in this post. There is also a private Facebook group for the Lent challenge:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords/

Art Journaling in the New Year

As I mentioned at the end of last month, this year I am joining Bernice Hopper and Valerie Sjodin in co-leading a group that will be exploring using Everyday Journals and living out our word for the year. [Links are at the end of the post.] I'm using a Traveler's Notebook set-up again this year. I really enjoy both the size and the system of having a number of notebook inserts.

So far in my notebook I have dug into my word for 2018, flow.

My church spent six months last year going through the book of Galatians. Out of that time I came away with a greater desire to walk in the flow of God's Spirit. Galatians is such a rich theological book, yet it is also full of practical guidelines for living out our faith. Just a few of the spiritual nuggets found in Galatians:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13

...walk by the Spirit...led by the Spirit... Galatians 5:16,18

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

My word for this year has come out of - flowed out of - this time we spent in Galatians. I want to flow this year in the movement of God's Spirit. I want to go with the flow more this year, responding rather than reacting. I want to walk in the flow of the freedom that is min in Christ. And I want to create a healthier flow for my life, eating better, developing an exercise habit, keeping focused on what I need to do to restore energy -both physically and emotionally. Last year my word was "whole" and I experienced some areas of healing and being restored in wholeness in Christ. This year I want to continue in that flow. I captured my intentions for this word's influence in my life on my Vision/Intention board in my last post. I'm combining my journey with this word in my Everyday Journal along with capturing events from everyday life, quotes from books I'm reading, Bible study notes, art journaling, etc.

2018 Week 1

One book I am slowly making my way through is The Deeper Journey by Robert Mulholland. He is on the top of my favorite authors who write about spiritual formation. The Deeper Journey looks at our false self and and the spiritual journey of discovering our true self in Christ. He uses the book of Colossians quite a bit in this book and below are some notes I was reflecting on that show the false self and the true self in Colossians 2:20-3:17. Jotting down notes and mapping them out creatively are one of the ways I take God's Word deeper into my heart and mind.

2018 Week 2

Join Our Inspirational Facebook Group

Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/203309083575277/

Hashtags on Instagram: #everydayjournals2018, #livingyourword2018

Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Some of the products I use:

I get my calendar inserts and some other inserts from Yellow Paper House on Etsy.  Other products can be found on Amazon:

My favorite art journaling pens:

A note about Amazon links on my blog:

I am giving Amazon affiliation a try, which means I may receive a small percentage off sales made through clicking on the Amazon links found on my blog. There is no additional cost to you.