Are You Living a Life of Intention or a Life of Default?
Have you ever had someone come to mind out of the blue? Maybe it’s a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Someone you’ve noticed sitting alone at church. Or a neighbor you’ve been meaning to invite over. You think, I really should reach out.
But then life happens. Another responsibility needs your attention, the day gets busy, and before you know it, that thought has come and gone. I’ve certainly been there.
And it reminds me of something my sister Sara taught me years ago. Are we living a life of intention, or are we simply living a life of default?
One of Sara’s life goals was simple, yet incredibly meaningful: “To be intentional in all things.”
In the book Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts, Sara shared what intentional living meant to her. She believed that everything we do, no matter how small, carries an impact. The choices we make about how we live and how we treat others reach further than we may ever realize.
Sara once wrote: “If I come in contact with someone I either leave them feeling better about themselves or worse, but I never leave them unaffected.”
I’ve thought about those words so many times since she passed away. Because Sara didn’t just believe them. She lived them.
Even when her illness left her homebound, she intentionally built relationships through her blog, messages, and conversations. She remembered what was happening in people’s lives. She listened. She encouraged them. She made them feel like they mattered.
Sara couldn’t meet someone for coffee, attend gatherings, or invite friends out to lunch. Yet she created a community where people felt genuinely loved and included. Her circumstances limited where she could go, but they didn’t limit the room she made for others.
What a beautiful example of intentional living.
I’ve experienced firsthand how one intentional conversation can change the direction of our lives. Years ago, I attended a John Maxwell conference in Florida.
I had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and had just finished publishing Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts. I was excited about sharing the message of the book, but honestly, I felt a little like a fish out of water.
My professional background was in the business world, not ministry. I wanted to begin speaking and sharing the message of choosing joy, but I was also just beginning cancer treatment. I wasn’t quite sure how it was all going to come together.
And that’s when I met Jill.
We started talking, and I shared my story, my hopes, and my uncertainties. What I didn’t know was that Jill had been praying for years that God would bring a ministry partner into her life. And here’s the part that still makes me smile. We met in Florida, but we both lived in Sioux City, Iowa!
We decided to get together when we returned home. One conversation led to another. We began sharing ideas, dreams, and a desire to encourage others in their faith. And from those conversations, Choose Ministry was formed.
Neither of us could have known what that first conversation would lead to. But we were willing to connect, make room for one another, and see where God might lead. I look back on that meeting and see how God was working in ways neither of us fully understood at the time.
Sometimes the person God places in your path isn’t just someone you are meant to encourage. Sometimes they’re someone who will become part of your own journey.
Sara used to talk about paying attention to the tug on our hearts. She once shared that one of her greatest fears was that God had a purpose for her and, if she wasn’t paying attention, she might miss it. So she prayed for guidance. She paid attention when someone came to mind or when she had an idea of something she could do for another person.
She wanted to be available for whatever God had planned. That challenges me. Because it’s easy to become comfortable in our routines.
We spend time with the same friends, sit with the same people at church, and move from one responsibility to the next. There’s nothing wrong with that. But I wonder if sometimes we become so comfortable with the people already in our lives that we stop noticing who might need an invitation.
Someone who needs encouragement. Someone who is feeling alone. Someone who is searching for connection. Or perhaps someone God wants to bring into our lives for reasons we don’t yet understand.
Ephesians 5:15–16 reminds us: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
Making the most of every opportunity. Not just the big opportunities. Not just the convenient ones. The everyday opportunities to notice, encourage, welcome, and invite. And sometimes, those opportunities require us to set aside our own plans.
When I look at the life of Jesus, I’m struck by how intentionally He engaged with people. He noticed those others overlooked. He stopped for people who needed Him. He welcomed questions, shared meals, and invited people to follow Him.
In Luke 19, Jesus noticed Zacchaeus sitting in a tree. While others judged Zacchaeus, Jesus stopped, called him by name, and chose to spend time with him. That encounter changed Zacchaeus’s life.
We may not be able to meet every need or be available to everyone all the time, but we can follow Jesus’ example. We can notice. We can listen. We can invite. We can make room.
Romans 12:13 tells us to “Practice hospitality.” I love that word, practice. It reminds me that welcoming others isn’t just something we do when it’s convenient. It’s something we intentionally develop as we grow in our relationship with Jesus. And hospitality isn’t limited to opening our homes.
Sometimes it begins by opening our hearts.
I don’t believe living intentionally means filling every open space on our calendars. We all have responsibilities, relationships, and seasons when our own capacity is limited. Living intentionally isn’t about doing everything. It’s about being willing to ask God what He wants us to do with the opportunities He’s given us.
Sometimes it’s a phone call. Sometimes it’s an invitation for coffee. Sometimes it’s including someone who might otherwise feel left out. And sometimes it’s simply being willing to have a conversation with someone we don’t know.
I think about that conversation with Jill. What if we hadn’t taken the time to share our stories? What if we’d said, “We should get together sometime,” but never followed through? I don’t know what would have happened. But I’m grateful we made room for the relationship.
And I’m grateful Sara taught me to pay attention to the opportunities God places before us. Because sometimes the smallest invitation opens the door to something we never could have imagined.
So here’s my encouragement for us this week. Let’s live intentionally. Let’s pay attention to the people God places in our path. Let’s listen for those gentle nudges on our hearts. And let’s be willing to take the next step. Not because we know what the outcome will be.
But because we trust the One who does.
Maybe making room for someone else begins with making room for God to change our plans. And maybe the person He places in our path today is someone He wants us to invite along on the journey.
Are you living a life of intention or a life of default?
Let’s choose to live intentionally. Let’s choose to make room. And let’s keep inviting others along.
Choose Joy. Invite Others Along.
A Little Joy for the Journey
This week’s challenge: Make room for one.
Think of one person you could intentionally connect with this week. Reach out. Extend an invitation. Start a conversation. Or simply give someone your undivided attention. Then consider how you might continue walking alongside them.
Reflection: Who might God be placing on your heart, and what is one step you could take to make room for them?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the people You have placed in my life. Help me slow down and pay attention to the opportunities You give me to encourage, welcome, and connect with others. Give me the courage to reach out, the willingness to listen, and the wisdom to recognize when You may be asking me to change my plans. Teach me to live intentionally and invite others along. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
With love and joy,
Laura
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