Hello!
Not gonna lie, I’m not sure how to start this, LOL.
It’s been a while since I wrote—not that I haven’t, but writing in a community? It’s been a long time!
But since this is my first, let’s kick things off with a short introduction: I’m Solomon, I’m from India, and I’m a junior in high school!
I started this with one simple goal: being the version that God has crafted me to be.
And that starts with a simple biblical principle, inspired by a sermon my pastor gave, which I like to call the ars intentionis.
(Ars intentionis basically means the Art of Intention, but hey, it’s undeniably fancier in Latin, LOL.)
Being intentional is something I’ve been trying to practice, and I’ve seen themes of it so many times in the Bible, especially in the Parable of the Bags of Gold taught by Jesus!
When people were intentional with what they did, the fruits of their work were much greater than those who weren’t. I don’t have statistics to back this up, but I do have my life as evidence. In moments where I’ve been intentional, not only was I more determined to complete the goal, but I also tasted the fruits of my work and found them significantly sweeter.
It starts like this:
Intention
What are you trying to accomplish? Is it acing your test or taking time to rest? In everything you do, let there be intention.
But be careful, for intention can be either good or bad. Depending on the path you choose, you will later taste either a sweet or bitter fruit.
Work
How do you go about achieving this goal or task? A common way is to break down your bigger tasks into smaller, achievable ones and track your progress as each small task is completed.
Two things happen here: smaller tasks are easier to tackle and accomplish, and tracking your tasks creates a streak. Maintaining that streak becomes an incentive to keep going!
However, as I mentioned earlier, if your intention is terrible, so will your work be, even if you follow a proven methodology. On the other hand, if your intention is good but the execution of your work is poor, you’ll still end up with a bitter fruit. So, make sure the methodology you follow works for you and can be consistently applied.
Fruits
Depending on the path you choose, you’ll either taste a sweet, satisfying fruit or a terrible, bitter one. The result depends on how you approached your intention and executed it.
As I end this, I think to myself, How do I wrap this up? What would be a good way to end?
The same thought boggled me as I wrote the introduction, but for now, I’ll keep it simple.
Let’s do this.