Intentional Transitions…Living Life on Purpose
Transition is a natural part of the life cycle. Change from one life stage, position, sphere of influence or friendship to another begins at birth.
Life transitions may bring joy or pain but all contribute to the formation of the person we become. Some we control while others just naturally come into our lives uninvited and unannounced.
We must be prepared lest the uninvited transitions demand the greatest amount of our attention and devour our time. These types of transitions tend to drain us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
The more energy we put into “Intentional Transitions,” the more prepared we can be to handle those uninvited ones. We need to make choices as to how we will live our lives based on priorities and values which guide our “Intentional Transitions.”
Here are four concepts that will intentionally shape our lives, preparing us to live more meaningful and productive lives during those natural transitions.
- Spiritual Growth: I love the example of the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 1:5-9. We discover him at the end of his life still desiring to grow in his faith. He had experienced both positive and negative transitions yet here we still see him living life intentionally. We need to build into our daily lives some intentional practices for spiritual growth.
- Friendships: In 2 Peter 1:13 and 3:1, Peter speaks of stirring up his friends by reminding them of what is important. Living life intentionally includes accountability relationships. We need good friends who are godly and willing to “stir us up” about our faith walk.
- Personal Witnessing: Romans 1:16, reminds us that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Founding Director of Word of Life, Jack Wyrtzen often said, “It is the responsibility of every generation to reach their generation with the Gospel of Christ.” We need to be intentionally sharing the good news of the Gospel in our sphere of influence.
- Personal Goals: I am challenged by the spirit of Caleb in Joshua14:11-12. In this passage he is in his eighties and explaining to Joshua his future plans for “Intentional Living.” He is ready to fight and still wants “that mountain!” We too need to have a dream which includes saying noto the world’s “treadmill existence” approach to life. We need to live intentional lives setting our own personal goals based upon our priorities and values.
What are some of the “Intentional Transitions” you have implemented into your life or have seen others practice?
Hey Mike, first…I hadn’t seen this newer version of your site, and let me say kudos. It looks great. Regarding transitions, we wrestled through this exact issue when we made our big move a few years ago. We were at a spot of comfort and sort of taking whatever came. When we started to recognize this, we decided that we weren’t willing to coast along with a limited and safe view of life anymore, and we wanted to intentionally put ourselves in a circumstance that would grow and stretch our ability to follow Christ. In the almost 4 years since, we have seen God do exactly that. We have seen our sphere of influence widen dramatically, enjoyed a greater diversity of opportunities for serving in our community and through our church and got rid of our financial debt.
Adam, thanks for the positive feedback on the new site and design…coming from you that means a great deal. You are correct, transitions are often tough to discern, knowing when it is time to move or time to dig in can produce a lot of pressure. That is one of the reasons why I wrote the blog, I wanted to help people prepare for those times. I am excited about what God is doing in your life.