A deliberate life

One of my personal "mottos" has become "be deliberate".  I simply wish to say what I mean and do what I intend.  I want to give purpose to each moment, having made the conscious decision to do exactly what I am doing.  I have found if I do not make the decision to do something, and just go with the flow of the day, less is accomplished and the likelihood of my becoming lazy increases.

This being deliberate applies to my duties as wife and mother more than anything else. I deliberately choose the words I say to my children, taking note that whatever I say will have a profound effect on them. I deliberately choose to bite my tongue when Hubs gets under my skin, instead of my natural instinct to fly off the handle and give him a piece of my mind. As mothers, those things we choose to say and do influence our children.  It influences their thoughts/memories of me. It influences the mood of our home. It influences what they learn to be acceptable behavior, both in public and in private.  And, most importantly, it teaches them just how important Christ is to me-if they see Him reflected in my words and actions.

Here are some of my favorite verses that tie in with being deliberate:

¹⁵ Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of your time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.   Ephesians 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” ¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 She considers a field and buys it; From her earnings she plants a vineyard. Proverbs 31: 16

²⁶ She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

²³ Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord  Colossians 3