Living with Intention Lesson #2

I had a conversation the other day that I haven't quite been able to shake. It went a little something like this:
Me: Blah blah blah (I mean come on, this is me we're talking about). "I'm really just starting to think I expect too much."
Wise friend: "Excuse me—what? Those words have never come out of your mouth. When did that change, little miss 'I expect life to be lovely all the time'?"
Me: "I don't know, when I turned 25? Quarter-life crisis and such?"
Wise friend: "If by that you mean when everything you touched stopped immediately turning to gold, then ok."
Me: Silence.
Wise friend: "Hey, you said it—you're 25 now. Life isn't always easy. Gold takes a little longer to turn. That's why what you touch is that much more important."

Cue Mumford and Sons' "Awake My Soul."
Where you invest your love, you invest your life.

Living with intention lesson #2—touch only the things you deeply care about turning to gold.
I don't know about your days, but mine are often filled with completely frivolous things I feel like I must do. But respectively and ironically, I'm not a big fan of wasting time. Aside from the necessary evils—bills, working out, errands, etc—how often do you fill your time with things you could pretty simply say no to? I could list off a few pretty quickly. Many weeks have gone by where I feel like not only has nothing I've touched turned to gold, but many of those things haven't felt the warmth of my touch long enough to remember it was present. It's as if the world stands still and my presence in it is a blur of movement and self-imposed obligatory haste.

I tell myself weekly...no let's be honest—daily—to slow down. Spend more time on things, Ainsley, Because that wise friend was right (hey you, don't let your head expand): Be choosey with what you invest your attention on—the things you care about nurturing, deepening, succeeding in will only turn to gold when the others are discarded.
Relationships. Talents. Wellness—all golden things on my list.
Faith. Thanksgiving. Hope—all gold.
My relationship with Him—the ultimate golden presence.
Pay attention to your source of joy, and it turns to gold. Listen to where He says your attention should be, and He helps turn it to gold. Surrender to Him your attention—give up the things that steal it from Him—and let Him turn your life to gold.
Discard the clutter. Choose joy.

So many words and perhaps incoherent fragments of thought to simply say: Living with intention lesson #2—choose joy and turn your life to gold.

In case you missed living with intention lesson #1.
Happy Thursday—just one more day!
xoxo

{Photo creds}