I had an interesting conversation with a friend at the gym yesterday. She had seen me at the coffee shop last week meeting with another lady and what she said caught me a bit off guard. "I love how you meet with people at the coffee shop." My face must have looked a little surprised. She went on, "I mean, you take the time to get together, I should do more of that." Now I understood. We went on to talk about how if you don't schedule those times to intentionally get together with friends, time goes by and before you know it, it has been months since you have seen them.
When I looked up intentional in the Dictionary I found this:
done on purpose; deliberate.
synonyms: deliberate, calculated, conscious, intended, planned, meant, studied, knowing, willful, purposeful, purposive, done on purpose, premeditated, preplanned
I am someone who is very spontaneous. I prefer not having a schedule. However, I have learned that in some areas of my life I need to be intentional. I need to plan out and be purposeful about meeting with friends. I need to plan out and be intentional with spending time in God's Word and in prayer. I need to be intentional with exercise. Here is the simple truth. When we are intentional, and deliberate to follow through on what we think is important, it happens. We put it in our calendar, and we go. There is persistence involved to find a date that works for both people, or several people, and when it is important enough you can stick to it and make it happen.
What are you intentional about? Where would you like to be more intentional? Is there a friend you haven't seen in awhile? Has it been awhile since you have sat down with Jesus and His Word? What can you do to make it happen?
Go ahead and make the phone call or send the text and get it on the calendar. You will be glad you did.