Intentionality

Intentional is a word I hear thrown around a lot. Particularly with women in reference to their time usage. And while I obviously like the idea of people being better managers of their time, this has become one of those words that I hear used so much (particularly with Christians and with reference to the One Word thing) it feels cheesy and cliché and almost loses its meaning in my eyes. That may sound harsh, but I'm just being honest.

But tonight, I'm feeling really appreciative of intentionality and how it plays out in friendships. It didn't come to mean so much to me until I moved far, far away from all the people most important to me and intentionality had to be a priority if I was going to stay in touch with and connected to the people I love and adore.

I got to talk to Austin for about 10 minutes tonight, and in it we were talking about him coming closer to graduation and how he was feeling and he mentioned intentionality. He said he was choosing to be more intentional with the friends he chose, that he actually had to back off some friendships so that he could invest more in the relationships he knew he wanted to keep long past college. I remember thinking YES!!!

Yes, because that's such a good thing to learn, but also yes, because I'm so glad I'm one of the people he chose. Just being honest. :)

It's like with me and Clayton, and how we make it a priority to have our FaceTime dates every week or two. I make jokes about how I start twitching if I go too long without seeing his face, but really, I just don't want to lose the bond that we have.

I'm learning every day that as we get older, relationships take effort. It's one thing when you're on a small college campus and you're a few minutes' walk from any of your best friends, it's something totally different when you have to carve out time to make sure you connect with the people you love. I may get tired, and I may get busy, but I pray that people and relationships are always as big of a priority as they are to me now and that I will always make sacrificing time a priority in order to stay close to them.