Being Intentional.

HAPPY OCTOBER!

It is officially the start to my favorite three months EVER.  The most wonderful time of the year starts today, y'all.  I'm pretty happy about it.

The first day of a new month always holds so much potential and leaves me drawing up a to-do list and creating new goals.  Today is no different.  And while I'm drinking my coffee and journaling and trying to decide what I want to get out of this month, I can't help but think of past months where I've had such high expectations that I did not even come close to reaching.

And I can't help but think it was because I wasn't intentional.

It's easy to say I want to be a good wife, or a good blogger, or a good etsy-er. {Is there an official name for that yet??}  It's easy to say I want to read my Bible more or be outside more or make more time for whatever I need to make more time for.  But actually doing it is a completely different story.

Sometimes I feel like getting excited about life and making new goals and dreaming new dreams and writing them all down is enough.

But it's not.

It's easy to have dreams.

It's hard to follow them.

This October, I'm going to be intentional.

I'm going to be intentional about living my life.  I'm going to be intentional about following my dreams and goals.  I am going to wake up with a purpose and follow that purpose all throughout the day, so that the thirty-first of October looks a lot like the I hoped it would on the first of October.

So, what do you say?  Will you join me in living intentionally this month?  If so, the possibilities are endless.

Have a great first day of October, friends!

{Also:  The Handmade Fair is right around the corner!  I'll be posting the link Thursday at midnight--I'm so excited about it!}

Check out this month's featured sponsor:

Chase it.

Congrats to Eliza E. who won the giveaway! 

You are never too young
you are never too old
to set a goal for your life
to make that your dream
and to chase it relentlessly.

That passion that you feel when you think of what you want to accomplish with your life?
Savor it.
Grab hold of it and do not let go. 
We were created to have an abundant life, not a boring one.
Do not fear the unattainable.
If we only went after things we knew for certain we could reach, what fun would that be?

So tell me, friends.  What are you chasing after this week?

p.s.
my etsy shop is having a flash sale!  get 25 percent off your purchase with code "happytuesday" for the next 24 hours. 

on writing.

Sometimes it's just really refreshing to inspire yourself about your dreams. 

My dream is to be a writer.  I don't know what yours is, but I figure if you like reading blogs, there's probably a little bit of a writer inside of you, and you might like some inspiration of your own. 

 

{via}

happy writing, friends. 

Legacy.

"What kind of life to you want to be able to reflect on when you are facing death?"

This {sort of morbid} question was posed by the pastor at the church we visited tonight.

And while it's uncomfortable to think about, it's also amazingly inspiring.

I'm turning twenty-one this weekend, and there's nothing like starting a new year to make you reflect.

On what I want to do.
On what I want to be.
On who I want to be.
And, after tonight, what sort of life I want to be able to reflect on when I am facing death.

So.  What sort of life do you want to be able to reflect on when you are facing death?

Uncomfortable, yes.  But also extremely freeing.

Why?

Because you are the one who gets to decide the answer to that question.  You are the one who determines what your legacy will be.  You are the one who decides what people will remember your life for.  What type of mark you will leave on the world.

So what will it be, then?

There are so many choices to make and things to do and so many experiences to have.  I hope you make wonderful choices that lead you great places, that you do amazing things, and that you have incredible experiences.

But at the end of the day, if it isn't ultimately all for God . . . then man, you guys.  It wasn't worth anything.

"I am the master of my fate.  I am the captain of my soul." -W. E. Henley

These words have been replaying over in my mind today.

Yes, I believe that God has an amazing plan for my life.  For your life.
But He has placed the pen that will write the legacy we have in our hands.
What a huge responsibility.
What an incredible gift.

I hope that today you will reflect on what type of life you want to be able to one day look back on.  I hope that you will then decide to start living that life, right this very second.

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be who you want to be.  There's no time limit, stop whenever you want.  You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  And I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of.  If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald