Intention

I started 2025 with some things in mind. Toward the end of last year, I switched from a bullet journal to an app. I have it set to check in twice a day. This helps me be more focused on things I want to be more intentional about this year. It’s easy to add tasks, goals, and notes as well. It’s searchable, which is helpful.

In past years since we’ve been in East Tennessee, I would pick a word and focus on it for the year. In my commute, I thought about how that has helped me, how some of those issues aren’t as prominent for me. I dealt with fear for a while. I realized anxiety that I typically experience is fear-based. Prayers aren’t always answered the way we think or hope they should be. God helped even though my tendency is to get in the way of His help.

This year, I have new intentions. Sometimes, we have good intentions, and they don’t work out. So far, 2025 has been tense for me. Thankfully, God helps me when I’m quiet (ie, asleep). I wake with a thought and explore it. That’s been my process. Now, this was not my intention to start this way. But, strangely, it ties in.

Life doesn’t just throw curveballs. It throws splitters, sinkers, spitters, knuckleballs, scuffed ones, etc. In other words, life’s rules aren’t ours. We may want things to fit nicely into a box (even God!); things just don’t work that way. Most of the time, I want to be able to set cruise and just roll. How many straight roads do you know?

Rather than get upset or try to push square pegs into round holes, be intentional and try to figure it out. Yes, it can be frustrating. Yes, it’s annoying. Yes, it can even be painful. Pray about it. Talk it over. Get outside help. If you find you stop pursuing your original intentions, keep trying. Often, we are the barrier to get to where we want to go.