Tag Archives: intention

An intention that totally stands to reason.

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Daily writing prompt
Do you think everything happens for a reason?
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Well my friends, a very interesting topic today, isn’t it?

When I first read it, I was a little perplexed. I wanted to make sure I fully understood the question.

So I referred to my compatriot Al for a defintion. After all, he comes from a long line of information collectors, spawned from the shores of Britannica, where they attended Oxford, and were lovingly raised by Merriam and Webster.

But of course, I digress…

I went to him because much of what I think, say and do has been and is self directed, for better or worse. I choose. I formulate the reason, arrive at the intended and misperceived results in my noggin, guided by my ego, and just go with it. That being said, once the things do happen, then my tendency is to go back and review the refigure the reason while I swiffer up the mess I made.

“I knew I could do it, so why did this happen?”

“Why did my thoughts, words and actions offend so many?”

“How come no one understands I am right and does what I tell them to do?”

True, I do all of the calculus before hand, or at teast I thought I did, so I can figure out the best reasons for doing everything I do. The results will then always reflect my math.

Yikes.

I never really was good at arithmetic. Tried, but just never connected point A to B. Not in my geornetry apparently. Actually torpedoed my college GPA trying calculus and physics in the midst of trying to find my way.

Based on the stats I have accumulated for more than a couple of decades, things definitely trend towards the negative.

So delving deeper into the concept of reason, the word purpose was offered. Not as a sibling. Perhaps moreso a distant relative.

As it stands, reason is more of definition or explanation of a past motivation, a cause, or even a justification for the reasons something was done or why an event occurred. Strange, you think you are figuring out how to go about doing something – via reasoning – and yet it is more attuned to understanding why it took place.

Purpose, in this stoic’s understanding, seems a more independent and intentional entity.

Independent in the sense that I am coming to believe it is not self generated. I get bits and pieces, hints and suggestions, clues and coincidence that open me up to embrace what is in the process of happening. Not so much deciding I guess, just letting if you know what I mean. I feel less compellee to reason things out. More driven to let go and let it become.

And purpose, they say, is yet to be revealed. Yet to be fully known. yet to be pursued. But then again, I think that its intention is tug me towards it, allow it to capture my heart, mind and soul and then take me beyond my wildest dreams and most fervent imagination. I simply need to grant my permission to be carried away.

As frightening as that may sound, there is an overwhelming sense of peace to it. I need not know, be, drive, control, decide, determine, or even concede. All of this has nothing to do with capitulation. I just need to let.

Allow.

And most of all, trust.

At this point in my life, one of the best things I can do for myself.

Finally allowing myself to divine my purpose.

An intention that totally stands to reason.

But I can catch His excellence.

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Daily writing prompt
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
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I cannot say I live by one, but I can say I think of some more than others. It is a rather fluid situation. Their respective rank has shifted and changed over the course of time, largely because I have changed over the course of time. Or rather, I am in the process of changing over the course of time. Wait. I am finally realizing change is needed now because there is not a lot of time remaining. Boom! There it is! My digress in the prompt of the day….

Most of what has stuck in my noggin are thoughts pertinent to the motivation of student-athletes I have had the opportunity to coach for going on twenty five years. If by chance, any one else happened to read those thoughts I would share, they too would get to know about some of these wonderful authors. Lots of James Allen, Whitman, Emerson, Angelou, Einstein, King and others. Digging deeper, I found inspiration from the ancients like Aristotle, Seneca, Socrates, Aurelius and the like. Those of the cloth; Merton. Nouwen and Aquinas. Bringin’ up the rear, men like Dungy, Lombardi, Wooden and those that found their way into my life.

The change I alluded to is essentially focus related. Going from what can be made of oneself on the field, in the weightroom, during class and within the community to what is intended to be created from within. Not alone mind you. But in concert with THE best coach ever made.

For example, Coach Lombardi spoke of excellence in this fashion: “Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.”

A mentor of mine, Coach Rauch, offered: “Adversity is not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’ event.” Another man who saw things in me I never recognized, Pastor Freyer, offered: What you are someday going to be, you are now becoming.”  And this one from James Allen: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be”

All very individual focused, on what each could aspire to in an effort to raise up all those about them. Ideal for football and life, in the perspective they offer as to the lasting impact of effort, knowing that opportunity lay in adversity, how intention can positively command direction and what you think creates the words and deeds towards becoming what you were intended to be.

By becoming the best that was in you, you brought out the best in others, being witness to your transformation. A non-transactional gift given to the one next to you. Partly out of being on a team and being a teammate. But moreso, out of love. Leaving it all out there for them. One doing so leaves its mark. But imagine five. Ten. Thirty some players willingly and selflessly serving another. Together. Talk about excellence. Talk about joy.

Those days built the foundation for this man.

And now, my desire is to fully be what it is I was intended to be. No one is here randomly. There is a reason for our existence. A purpose. And a mission designed specifically for each one of us. Perhaps the inklings of that was shared when I wore the pads and then when I traded them for a whistle. My teammates will always be a part of me, don’t get me wrong. It just appears as though my current team has shrunk to two. And it is no longer confined to a field.

During a conversation this past week, someone said; “I cannot. He can. I will let Him.”

That one has stuck with me. With it, I can maintain fatihful effort, receive the grace of opportunity that lay in all adversity, intentionally and positively follow His direction and listen for the words that lead to deeds so I can finally become what He intended me to be.

For this I have chased my entire life.

I know I will never attain perfection.

But I can catch His excellence.


But to actually live it. 

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“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another.”

― J.M. Barrie

If life is our diary as Mr. Barrie suggests, then we can choose to fill the pages with the fictional dreams we intended to create, or, share with others a life of non-fiction we made bound by our true intention.  

My sincere apologies if this sounds like an either or proposition.  

We all live in our heads at times, wishing and dreaming for what is yet to be. Desire and commitment can be key influencers in this process.  Depicting the wanted end to a schematic that can be amended in all fashions depending on the day, the outcome of the prior or the latest attraction of distraction.  I have travelled this same road over and over. Seems to always lead me back to where I started, but now with far less time to get to where it is that  I ultimately want to be. 

Fiction broadens the view somewhat, but needs to be genuinely partnered to its non-fiction sibling.  

There has to be a path extending beyond the mind incorporating word and deed  – and others important to us – so that work can be truly engaged and progress honestly made.  That may be what Mr. Barrie is alluding to. 

We intend one thing, but come up short on the intention needed to finish the story.  As such,  the chapters never quite mesh.  Our diary becomes a run-on. 

The fiction we see is not allowed to become the non-fiction we do.  Remaining in the ether, it never assumes the mass of reality.

Though it may not be what we intended, we must somehow find our way to live with intention. 

Not just to write our story.

But to actually live it. 

I sure didn’t.

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Daily writing prompt
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
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So just a little bit about me first.

Maybe I share the same boat with some of you. Pulling an oar of low or no self esteem. Little or no awareness of self worth or value. Throw in a modicum of shame to go along with it. Maintaining an unhealthy reliance on others to determine these for me, because after all, they know better than I. Right?

So when you go about things like that, life turns out pretty much circular if you can picture it. Until someone chooses to climb aboard, take up the one on the other side, and row along with you for a bit. New waters. Different view of the horizon. Testing endurance. Working together towards a shared vision. As one. Blessed to say the occupancy on my vessel has grown of late.

You probably can guess what patriarchal pun is destined to follow that last sentence.

To me, compliments take on a different form. They aren’t so much made up of just words. They go far deeper than that. I view them as intention. A truly authentic giving of one into another, residing in trust, compassion and honesty. Putting another’s value and worth on display through thought, word and deed. An intentional proclamation of what another truly means to those about them.

Sorry, getting a little windy out here.

So last night, at our pizza gathering for the basketball season, a young man literally ran across the gym and just about bent me in half with a jumping bear hug. I work with him twice a week as it is and we make things happen together. But he hugged me yesterday like he hadn’t seen me for years. Just because. No words were involved, but that was a compliment I will not soon forget.

Years ago, a pillar of youth sports in our community thought I should hop on board and help steer the football program for the families here. His faith in me and who he saw from afar complimented the person I was desperately searching to find. His compliment changed my life. And to this day, I remain a coach.

A young man asked that I might come to speak to his team in the hopes that they would figure out how to grow closer together in intention, trust, faith and fellowship. I am still giddy about that night and how I still feel about becoming a part of them.

And when she can, my best friend and partner employs her gift of creation to make the best recipes that are good for me for all of the right reasons. Just because.

Others around me just reach out because they have a spot open on their boat. And the circular journey they are on may be a perpetual revisitation to the shores of Depair, Worthlessness, Emptiness and Isolation. A trip I took. Places I know all too well. Destinations they do not deserve if I can help it.

Had I been able to see compliments in this fashion before, I would have taken them more to heart.

Having teammates that wanted me to be their captain, twice.

A business owner picking me out of the blue, literally off the street to represent his company.

A fellowship asking me to help lead.

Being able to have you read my thoughts.

And of late, finally hearing His voice tell me I am worthy and calling me to come aboard.

A compliment isn’t so much “hey, did you lose weight?” Or, “you look good in that car.”

I am coming to realize that they consist of very few or absolutely no words. They are gifts another gives you because you are truly worth it in their heart, mind and soul. They value the genuine connection that exists so they share themselves with you. They see who you truly are, even if you are blind to that view.

They want you in their boat. Or are more than happy to come aboard yours and pick up the one next to you.

Who ever thought wanting to row with another was such a fulfilling compliment.

I sure didn’t.

.

Boy do they ever.

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This time of year is especially wondrous for me.

I veered off this path for whatever reason some years back. If you are not present, you cannot appreciate where you are and what what you are becoming. Shiny things can appear and once they begin to catch on and command your attention, they multiply. Hiding honesty about a past and inhibiting the truth yet to be. My focus is much better. I am seeing things for what they are.

These past twenty seven days have been illuminating to say the least. Things are different. The written and spoken word have new meaning and depth. Cannot say I have the answers, but man do things make some semblance of sense. Finally. Just keep that clock ticking so I can experience more.

Please.

So, there was the story in John this week about His encounter with a man, blind since birth. I read many of the reflections shared about it and the significance and meaning of His gift. It found a home in my thoughts that have since grown to become some rare and perpetual insight for this old man.

We are all of the earth. And once it is our time, to that we shall return.

But in the interim, by no means is our vision meant to be held solely to those worldly matters. Dirt for lack of a better term. I cannot speak to the man who came into being on this earth blind. But it struck me that He made a hyrdating compress consisting of dirt and His holy water and applied it directly to his afflicted vision. He wished him to be held souly to what He saw in and for him.

Those that pranced about in their costumes and “Holy” garb monitored His actions closely. Taking account of his sabbath violations and untoward behavior. Actually tending to those that needed it most no matter the penalties that would be accrued towards and against Him. Strange how they too were blind to what was really happening. Pride, position, status and most of all – ego – blend themselves into a compress of blindness all their own. Distorting sight to an appreciation of only those things to be had here. Of this earth.

So the man of no known origins, once gifted his heavenly mud pack, was then sent to Siloam. To bathe and allow the waters to cleanse him. Baptismal in nature? A washing away of the sins of this world, emphatically covering his eyes, so that he could finally possess sight? Not just things of this world. But actually “see” what life can be here and now, using a loving mold of His making.

To bad those adorned in the dirt of this world refused to take heed of the same exact offering. Too offensive a suggestion to remove the attire of earthly desires so they too could actually see. Chances are, many if not all of them were too blind since birth. If I can be honest, that seems to have been my challenge as well. So caught up with ego and what is made only here that I was never able to see what is given so that I may last forever. Grace that will shepard us far beyond the dirt from whence we came.

He applied it to my eyes long ago. I just never consented to listening so that I would consent to wash it away. Didn’t think I needed to. Afterall, I was in charge. Plus, it would have violated my personal sabbath rules and regimen. My pharisee-ical nature would never have allowed that.

Consent isn’t so much the correct word. It means I have control. Talk about misnomers.

Acceptance is far more like it.

Since I let go, He removed the dirt. An ongoing baptism if you will.

And with that, things sure look so different.

Boy do they ever.