Our First Journey around the Sun, continued.

This is the last post in a trio about living intentionally, & some questions I came up with to help my man & I look at our life & marriage & work out whether or not we are doing things on purpose, pursing important things, or just getting by. The first six sets of questions are here, and now for the second set.

Friendships

We are convinced that the people we surround ourselves with have a profound influence on our character & lifestyle.  Our questions for this area went something like this:

• Who do we feel like are our closest people at the moment, individually & as a couple. Are we being proactive in those relationships?
• Are there any friendships that either you or I have noticed that you/ I have been neglecting? People in tough situations who want to be supporting?
• Who are we investing in, what new friendships can we see developing?
• How can we intentionally bless more/ different people?

Home

• Are we happy with where we’re living, & how the house is arranged?
• We talked about the use of space/rooms as we’re in a small flat.
• Discuss chores & household responsibilities, are things working?
• Throw around some ideas for any DIY & improvements.

Stuff

• How well are we stewarding the things we’ve been given?
• What about the amount of stuff we have (we agreed we had more stuff than we’d like to & have been working on giving things away).
• What about generosity, & how our stuff can be a blessing to other people? This may not be a value of yours, but if it is, like it is for us, are you acting on it?

Work

This point is a little different for us than for most people as we both work from home, on some projects together & some separately.

• Let’s talk about time boundaries, when we start & end work, leave & come home, are we doing well with this or not?
• What goals do we have for our work/ businesses, how are we doing?
• Are we each satisfied with the work that we’re doing; is it challenging & growing us & working towards fulfilling our passions & the vision God’s given us for our lives?
• Is there anything else we’d like to be doing? Do we have time for that, & if not what are we prepared to sacrifice to invest in this new project?

Money

• Budgeting – are we sticking to our monthly budget, would we like to amend it in any way?
• We reviewed the status of various student loans & business loans we’re paying off.
• Saving & investments – how are we doing with existing savings, how could we be wiser with our money?
• Giving & living generously; we are aware that we have been given so much & so talked about active ways that we can live in a way that gives to others too.

Future

• What are our medium term (5 year) dreams? We had talked & prayed about this before, so just reviewed & amended or refined some of our hopes.
• Is our life now helping us move towards our vision for our life & marriage? What practical steps can we take now to walk more in line with this?

*Feel free to use these for your own reviews, or just inspiration to write your own questions to help you think about your life.

Coming up in the next week is the start of a series about the ‘Tales of a Newlywed’. I’ve got a few thoughts to share & I’ve asked a few friends who are relatively recently married to tell us something of their experience, & to answer a few questions. Should be fun 🙂