Live with Intention

Walking through the streets of Cannon Beach as an adult was much different than as a child. With my adult eyes, I now was aware of shops and restaurants that were never my concern before.
After my grandmother’s death, a trip to Cannon Beach proved significant for many reasons. One that I will share is the discovery of a little shop near the bakery which contained the poetry of a local artist. I wasn’t committed to walking into the shop, even though it was raining. So from the window I peeked in and the first thing I saw was “Live with Intention.” It was enough to get me out of the rain and into the store.
Months later, I came across the card I had purchased from the shop with the poem on it. I read it over and over. I even looked up the word intention in the dictionary and found that it means “a determination to act in a certain way”
Mary Anne Radmacher made living with intention sound so simple. And the more I thought about it, the more I resolved that it is simple. Living with intention is a personal choice.
The shop no longer sits across from the bakery, but Mary Anne Radmacher’s writings continue to have a powerful effect on me. When I find one that is significantly important, I put it in my journal or the story line (as Anne Warfield calls it).
I read somewhere that Mary Anne credits her inspiration from hearing a leader named Ray Stedman say that people have three different kinds of effects on others: some provoke no impact at all; some make others bitter and some make others better.
Commitment allows us to truly live with intention. Intention allows us to “begin each day as if it were on purpose.” Purpose allows for reach, collaboration and celebration.
Which effect will you have on others? None, bitter or better?
-Stacy