A
thought by John C. Maxwell (2015-10-06) from his book, Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters (p. 30). Center
Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com
to buy the book.)
As you have
noticed the name of this book is Intentional
Living: Choosing a Life That Matters and John gives us an example of what he means
by looking at his father who he says is the most intentional person I've met.
He
says, “He knows what he believes, he identifies what he wants, he thinks about
what he needs to do to bring about the results he wants, and he consistently
takes action to see it through. He’s in his nineties, and he’s still living
intentionally.”
John
goes on, “During the Depression, when many people were out of work, he would go to a
business where he hoped to get a job, and he would work a day for free. He
figured that his work would be so good that the business owner would simply
hire him on the spot. If that didn’t happen, he would move on and do the same
thing for another business.”
John
says, “My parents were highly intentional with my older brother Larry, my
younger sister Trish, and me. Because they wanted to meet our friends and
supervise us as we built relationships, they made sure we had everything kids
could ever want at our house: toys, a Ping-Pong table, a chemistry set, and a pool table. As a
result, all the neighborhood kids gathered there, and my mother would gently
guide us about which relationships were positive and which were negative.” They were intentional.
John
gives another example, “Dad was intentional about our growth and development,
too. He paid us for reading books he knew would improve us, instead of paying
us to put out the garbage. (I still put out the garbage. I just didn’t get paid
for it!) And the day I got my driver’s license, before we got in the car to go
home, he said, ‘I’m going to teach you the most important lesson you’ll ever
learn about driving.’ He pulled a book from his jacket pocket, and put it in the
glove box. ‘There will be times when you’re stopped in traffic, stuck at a
train track, or waiting for someone,’ he said. ‘The best way to use that time
and make it count is to read.’ My love of reading was intentionally instilled
in me by my dad.”
John
gives here some very practical examples of what it means to be intentional.
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