LV Cycle

Time to Deal With the Elephant in Your Head

by Andy Wood on December 27, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Photos, Principle of Abundance

Can we talk about The Elephant in the Room? 

Most of the time we use the phrase to describe the unspoken but obvious thing between two or more people that no one is talking about.  There’s a different elephant, however, that I want to explore. 

It’s the one in your head.

I don’t know what yours is doing, but the elephant my head likes to dance.  Badly.

The Elephant in Your Head is the one or two things that appear in every mental photo.  The two or three things that interrupt – albeit silently – any patterns of forward thinking.

What do you do when you’re the elephant in the room? [click to continue…]

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My Christmas Prayer for You

by Andy Wood on December 25, 2010

in Five LV Laws, LV Cycle, Principle of Abundance, Waiting

Wherever you may find yourself this Christmas – in prosperity or poverty, health or sickness, laughter or tears, togetherness or solitude – I pray that you will experience the same sense of wonder, gratitude, and grace (and more) that I have found. 

I pray that in the midst of all you call blessings, you experience the beauty of knowing the miracle of being loved in this life – deeply, fully, completely…

That the evening shadows and stars remind you of the one star that mattered most and the Spirit behind it, guiding those who sought Jesus to discover His presence, and to miss Herod’s schemes…

That as heaven and nature sing of the glory of God, the mountains you face only serve as reminders that they are no match for the love He has shown you in His coming and His care…

That Jesus, our Emmanuel, would manifest His faithful awareness and presence and the miracle that takes place when God and sinners are reconciled in love and grace…

That whether you hear His voice in a prayer or a song, a promise or a still small voice, that you would truly hear it – and that as He sings over you, you would taste and see that the Lord is good,  His mercy everlasting, and His truth endures forever to you and yours…

That joyfully and triumphantly, you would live in anticipation and adoration of the Word of the Father who appeared in flesh, and that you would not for one moment miss the opportunity to invest your life in what He is still doing today…

That in the silence of the night or the newness and glory of the morning, you would experience again and again the coming of the King – with the promise that the One who lit the sky once will split the sky when He comes again to claim you…

That the nearness and tender care of the Lord Jesus would carry you through the seasons of loss and the memories of those you miss this Christmas season…

And that the Carpenter’s son who built a bridge of goodness and light will find you waiting, however long it takes, for the day He returns.

Merry Christmas!

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I’ll Be Home for Christmas

by Andy Wood on December 17, 2010

in Five LV Laws, LV Cycle, Principle of Eternity, Waiting

On October 4, 1943, Bing Crosby recorded a song that captured the imagination of millions of Americans.  Within three weeks it was on the top music charts, and remained there for 11 weeks.  A year later, it returned to the charts again.  Since then, it has been recorded by nearly 250 artists.  It was the first song broadcast into space, and remains to this day one of the most cherished songs of all time. 

Remember, the entire world was galvanized in a world war, and hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific fighting for our future.  Nearly the entire country was unified behind our fighting men. 

The name of the song – “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” 

Something about Christmas makes us want to go home, or at least to be somewhere with people we care about.  [click to continue…]

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Who’s on First?

by Andy Wood on December 6, 2010

in Following Your Passion, LV Cycle

It’s a famous scene in the movie “City Slickers.”  Curley, the cowboy character played by Jack Palance, says to Billy Midlife-Crisis-Angst Crystal:

“You city folk, you worry about a lot of [stuff]…  You all come up here about the same age, same problems.  Spend about 50 weeks a year getting’ knots in your rope and then you think two weeks up here will untie ‘em for ya’.  And none of you get it.  Do you know what the secret of life is?”

“No, what?” says Crystal.

“This,” Curley says, holding up one finger.

“Your finger?”

“One thing.  Just one thing.  You stick to that and everything else don’t mean [nothing].”

“That’s great, but… what’s the one thing?”

“That’s what you gotta figure out.”

Tough times have a way of bringing out complicated questions.  Ever since Cain killed Abel, or Job’s friends made a “sympathy” visit, people have responded to adversity by haggling and hand-wringing over the deep, often-unanswerable questions in life.  Questions like, “Why is this happening to me?” or “Who’s responsible for that?”

During times like that, we all need somebody who can again bring us back to consciousness. [click to continue…]

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Conversation: The Leader’s Secret Weapon of Influence

by Andy Wood on December 1, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Executing Your Plan, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Words

Make a list of the most important qualities needed for effective leadership, and let me hazard a guess as to what won’t be on it:  Conversation. 

Oh, I’m sure you’ll mention communication, but in most people’s imagination, this refers to the ability to move a crowd with speeches, lead a meeting with clarity, and/or write powerfully.  And let me hasten to say, I’m for all three of those.

In each of these, a position holder is talking to people in other positions.  And that has its place.  But the best leaders have a secret weapon that “primes the pump” of their influence:  they know how to engage their constituents in ongoing, life-shaping, direction-setting conversations. 

They disarm by listening differently. 

They empower by asking questions out of sincere curiosity. 

They enflame the imagination by telling stories – theirs or somebody else’s. 

They forge “joint ventures of the heart” by demonstrating understanding and an ability to be influenced themselves. 

And they mobilize by sharing their vision interpersonally, with passion.

And all of this can be done in a few minutes at a time, standing at the water cooler, waiting for the “real” meeting to start, or riding on a bus to the company picnic. [click to continue…]

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Changing Seasons, Changing Lives

by Andy Wood on November 27, 2010

in Insight, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Waiting

Years ago a Persian king wanted to discourage his sons from making rash judgments.  He sent the oldest son on a winter journey to see a mango tree.  Spring came and the second oldest went on the same trip.  Summer followed and the third son went.  When the youngest boy returned from his autumn visit, the king called them together to describe the tree. 

The first said, “It looks like a burnt old stump.”  The second described it as lovely and green; the third declared its blossoms as beautiful as the rose.  The fourth said all were wrong.  “Its fruit is like a pear.” 

“Each is right,” the king said.  “You just saw the same tree in a different season.”  

Before you evaluate other people, make sure you have seen them in all their seasons.  No one is always anything.  [click to continue…]

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Six Signs of a Life-Lover

by Andy Wood on November 10, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, Principle of Abundance, Tense Truths

A few years ago, my friend Rick was on a plane loaded to the wing flaps with hazardous cargo.

It was hauling a bunch of preachers to a convention.

Rick was in his best never-met-a-stranger form, and he was trolling up and down the aisle introducing himself.

“Are you a pastor?”

“Where are you from?”

He’d chat for a while and move on.  And the more he moved, the more the passengers paid attention.

Finally he reached one row and asked a well-dressed man, “You look like a pastor.  Where are you from?”

“I’m not,” the man replied in a louder-than-usual voice.  “I’ve just been sick for a few days.”

The whole plane erupted with laughter. [click to continue…]

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The War-Ravaged Soul

by Andy Wood on November 8, 2010

in Ability, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, LV Cycle, Principle of Freedom, Protecting Your Investment

Brad is a living legend… at the local bar.  At first his mostly-daily trips were his way of unwinding after a stressful workday.  But over the years, one painful situation after another brought Brad to the point where he lives pretty much continuously between buzz and stupor.  Offering the standard denials and predictable claims that he can quit anytime, Brad has long ago crossed the line between soothing his nerves and declaring war on his soul.

Sandy is a shell of the girl she once was.  The once-vivacious high school and college student now sits in her immaculate apartment, trying to stay busy enough to avoid the reminders of how alone she is.  Estranged from her family, deeply disappointed by marriage and even motherhood, Sandy has never let go of the bitterness that ultimately seeped into every corner of her life.  To a stranger, Sandy is a hard-working professional with impeccable taste in decorating and fashion.  But the excellent exterior hides a war-ravaged soul. [click to continue…]

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Playing Hurt

by Andy Wood on November 1, 2010

in Ability, Enlarging Your Capacity, Life Currency, LV Cycle

Saw a strange thing the other day.  We’d driven to Abilene to watch the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys defend the Wilford Moore trophy against local rival McMurray for the 20th straight year.  Division III football at its finest.

HSU had already knocked out the starting quarterback.  Number 2 wasn’t faring much better.  Scrambling around in the backfield, he was nailed at midfield for about a 12-yard loss.

McMurray lined up for the next play.  Shotgun formation. All of a sudden, the quarterback called timeout, turned toward the sideline, and ripped his helmet off.  Next thing I know, he’s on his knees, then hands-and-knees, and he wasn’t praying.

Hmmm.  Maybe he was. [click to continue…]

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Coach Lightning

by Andy Wood on October 28, 2010

in Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Leadership, Life Currency, LV Cycle, LV Stories, Principle of Legacy

 

He outran them all.  

From the woods and swamps around his home in Millry, Alabama to the grass turf at Wildcat Hill, where the Millry Wildcats play their home games…

From a stint in the postwar United States Navy to the gridiron at the Mississippi Southern College…

From the sidelines and dugouts in the rural South to a legacy of influence that will long outlive him…

Nobody ever outran Morris Brown.

Nobody.

And he’d be the first to tell you.

In college they called him “Lightning.”  But the people whose lives were most impacted by his teaching, motivation, and personal influence to this day simply call him, “Coach.” [click to continue…]

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