An Intentional Summer – Week One

Hey Mama,

Before we get into week one, I just want to say thank you on behalf of those in your life for being willing to take this time for an intentional refresh.

It is my hope and prayer that as the summer goes on you’ll feel rested and ready to tackle another homeschool year.

If you are on Instagram, join me in sharing about your intentional summer using: #anintentionalsummer

In the weeks that follow I’ll be giving action items for home, health, parenting, marriage and faith. You can feel free to work on each item or pick and choose which ones you most need to work on. I don’t want this challenge to fall into the category of “one more thing to do”, I want it to bring awareness to your summer not a burden.

Before we get into the action items for each area I’ve got one action item that doesn’t really fall under any category, or maybe it falls under all of them, but I thought it would be a great way to start an intentional summer:

Action Item: Remove Distractions From Your Phone

In this day and age it is so easy to use our phones to entertain us, we pull them out any time we have a few minutes with nothing to do. Having this easy access to distraction keeps us from noticing life around us.

This week take some time to make it harder to access distracting apps from your phone. Do what works for you, for some that may mean removing notifications, or removing shortcuts from the home screen and for others it may be going as far as removing social media apps entirely.

 

Action Item: Declutter Your Room

Confession: I love getting rid of clutter! But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t build up. Your bedroom should be the most relaxing room in your house, you don’t want to be looking at a bunch of clutter when you are trying to relax.

This week start by decluttering your bedroom. Feel free to be ruthless. And then lie back and enjoy the peace a clutter free room gives.

 

Action Item: Be More Active

We are all on different parts of the path to healthy living but I know that most of us in this day and age can stand to be more active.

If you don’t already have a fitness tracker, download an app onto your phone (though, most phones come with a fitness tracker already these days). If you have your phone in your pocket for a few days you’ll find out how active you usually are (or aren’t) and you can set a goal for something above your normal activity rate. Find some kind of activity that you enjoy and add that into your day, for myself that’s bike riding so I like to try to get at least one bike ride each day in the summer.

 

Action Item: Look Your Children in the Eyes

We all know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of someone who isn’t paying attention to us when we are talking to them, but how often are we guilty of doing that very thing to our kids?

This week I challenge you to stop what you are doing and look your kids in the eye when they are talking to you.

 

Action Item: Plan a Date Night

Dating shouldn’t end with marriage but sometimes it gets pushed to the back burner. This week take time to get a date night (or two) on the calendar. Book your babysitter and do whatever you need to make sure your date night happens.

 

Action Item: Regular Time in the Word

Maybe I’m the only one this happens to but whenever my routine changes even slightly my whole day kind of goes out of order. I personally find that summer can be a hard time to keep a up with my time in the Word. Since summer usually brings beautiful weather here I always want to take advantage of it but sometimes it is at the cost of something else. If you find yourself in the same situation, this week I challenge you to find and set aside a time in your summer routine for spending time in the Word. 

Book Suggestion: I just finished reading Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin and would highly recommend it if you are needing some help in figuring out what time in the Word should, or could, look like.

Verses for the Week:

But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. – 1 John 2:5-6

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And that wraps up week one! I’d love to add a community portion to this challenge and help keep us all accountable, please join in by leaving a comment below and sharing the top one or two action items you will be working on this week, I’ll be sure to check in on you!

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