Late last year (end of 2011) both Jana and I heard God telling us that it was time to re-order our lives. For me that translated to how I was handling work, the attention it was getting, the amount of stress I was carrying, and that I was so out of balance in the rest of my life: my marriage, my kids, my health, my friendships. I believe I stayed close to Jesus during the season – I would never have survived it without him – but I knew things needed to change. Then the new year came (2012) and frankly, little changed.

So hear we are, half way through the year. I think it’s a matter of intention for me, of execution on the commitments that I have made to myself. I love the Lord, and I want to express that with my heart, soul, mind and strength. As Dallas Willard would say, I want to intentionally obey the commands of Jesus (but that’s probably another blog).

I want to get in shape. I want to lose some weight.

I want to pursue Jana as second nature, as just something that I do because I’m crazy about her.

I want to love my kids well, to not shout at them or exasperate them, but rather, give them tons of freedom and the ability to choose, so they can learn how to walk this life out from the safety of my house for now.

I want to work whole-heartedly at my job, and stay put, serving my customers well and honoring my employer, with an expectation that God will always provide for me like he has always done.  I don’t want to ask the question “should I be here?” anymore, but rather  always ask the question “how do I win here?” or “what must I do to be successful”.

I remember a friend talking about a 30 day challenge a few years ago.  He would take thirty days and would focus on three behaviors he wanted to drop and replace those three behaviors with something new.  If I did that, what would be on my list?  What simple things could I do to insure that this re-ordering of my life continues?

30 Day challenge

Stop:
– over eating at meals, compulsive snacking between meals
– no ice cream, sweets, or other crap this period
– drinking coffee in the evening cause I don’t sleep well if I do
Start:
– doing min 20 minute work out, every day
– drinking lots more water
– using a smaller plate, cutting portions in half, setting my fork down between bites

I bet I could do that exercise for every part of my life, since I realize that this was just for working out.  If I had to do that for my relationship with Jana, what would that look like?

Stop:
– complaining or grumbling when I talk to her; always talk about opportunities and solutions
– getting plugged in by mis reading a comment she makes
– racing back for approval
Start:
– intentionally pursuing her, asking her out, re-establish date night
– re-start feelings and affirmations exercise
– give her my whole attention when I’m with her, really listen, ask a ton of questions

Maybe tomorrow or later today I can think about the rest of this list and work these out by each area.  I don’t want to work from some sort of legalism.  I want this transformation to be worked out in my soul and body as who I am.  I recognize it’s going to take some effort.  I don’t want to craft some huge plan and then not execute on it.  I want to keep it simple, and just re-order.