Giving

So You Know You Can’t Dance

by Andy Wood on May 21, 2009

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

i-cant-danceI want to let you in on a poorly-kept secret.  I can’t dance.

There.  Now somebody besides, well, everybody who knows me is aware.

It’s a disappointment to my ballroom-longing wife.  It was a “you-can-get-over-it” point of conversation to my daughter when she planned her wedding reception.  I knew I couldn’t, but tried.  She insisted I would, and was grateful for the moment.  My tuxedo pants nearly fell off, and given the way the dance was going, that would have been a relief.

That said, good dancers fascinate me.  The skill.  The agility.  The confidence.  The creativity.  But dancing is one of those skills I have relegated to the pile items left off my blueprints.

There are others.  [click to continue…]

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Ten Ideas for “Giving Up” Your Holidays

by Andy Wood on November 18, 2008

in Life Currency

We’re giving up Christmas this year.  Thanksgiving, too.  And if I have my way, New Year’s day will follow suit.

It all started with a meeting by our Creative Team at the church.  The conversation was about what to do this holiday season.  What’s on people’s minds?  What are they thinking/planning for the holidays, especially Christmas?

As the conversation flowed, it followed themes such as people who were giving in to discouragement, fear, and despair because of the e-word.  Also, one couple talked about giving out to charity instead of buying family a bunch of stuff they didn’t particularly want or need.

We talked about how Christmas has become jacked up because of the demands and expectations we place on it – how it’s supposed to magically solve all our problems or bring some sort of enchantment to our otherwise unhappy lives.

We talked about the pressure to make Christmas tricked up – raising the materialistic bar year in and year out.  We’ve been keeping up with the Joneses, only to discover that we are the Joneses.

We talked about how, biblically, God one-upped Zecharias, the father of John the Baptist.  God always seems to be able to out-give, out-serve, out-surprise the greatest acts of our service or obedience.

And we talked about the ultimate Gift – offered up by God to a world too busy to care.

So, our theme for Christmas is, Give It Up!  Before you give in or give out, give up!  That’s exactly what God did with His Son.  Now He awaits your response.

But why wait for Christmas Day?  Why not start now, in the Thanksgiving season, to offer up our lives, first to God, then to others?  For many of us, this will be an opportunity, albeit unwelcome, to really discover that it’s not about the toys and trinkets as much as it is about the love, the joy, the life, and the service we offer up.  So in that spirit, I thought I’d share ten ways you can give to others in life-affirming ways for little or no money.  I would encourage you to do some or all of these things, regardless of your financial status. [click to continue…]

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Building Wealth in the Land of the Clowns

by Andy Wood on November 6, 2008

in Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Money, Principle of Abundance

Isn’t it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clowns.

Isn’t it bliss?
Don’t you approve?
One who keeps tearing around,
One who can’t move.
Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.
-from “Send in the Clowns”

No, that’s not the theme song to the next installment of the U.S. Congress.  Then again…

Yesterday I introduced you to a group of Christ followers who were living in a world of mirrors.  The good people of Laodicea were living with the bling, but God had a different estimate of their true wealth.  And in His correction, He revealed some things about a completely different economy that is in operation all around us.  For review, here are the principles we looked at yesterday:

Principle #1:  The root nature of sin is a declaration of independence from God.

Principle #2:  God has a system of economy unlike the world’s system.

Principle #3:  “Economy” is the exchange of all the commodities of life.

Principle #4:  Money has a unique place in the commodities of life.

Principle #5:  It is possible to be rich in the world’s economy and bankrupt in God’s.

So here the scenery changes, and God has some encouraging things to say to His loveable losers: [click to continue…]

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The Estate Sale

by Andy Wood on July 11, 2008

in Consumers, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, Money

Estate SaleI have eye-opening experiences in odd places.  I want to tell you about one that took place a few years ago at a house on 80th Street in Lubbock, a few houses away from where we used to live.  Our former neighbors were having an estate sale, and I have to confess, I’m a sucker.  So I strolled down to take it all in.  The sale was professionally managed, well organized, and quite thorough.  They were selling what appeared to be everything that wasn’t bolted to the walls or floor.

Like most estate sales, this was a trip back in time.  And somewhere amid the 8-track tapes, 70s-era stereo, and the costume jewelry, it happened.  Somewhere in my own mind, I was standing in the middle of my own estate sale.  Watching crowds of strangers pick over my treasures that, over the years, I had spent tens of thousands of dollars on.  Seeing them bargain with somebody over curtains or books or something – for dimes on the dollar, of course.  “Dear God,” I half-exclaimed and half-prayed, “tell me there’s more to my life than old stuff to be bartered over!”

As I continued to wander through the house, I could identify with the fun and excitement of this family as they had purchased that new appliance, received that special Christmas gift, or took advantage of those today-only prices and sales.  In so many ways, this was a typical American family.  Nice house.  Nice stuff, albeit touched by time.  And now all of it was being left behind.

It’s bad etiquette, I suppose, to actually ask about the people whose possessions we’re pilfering through.  Are they still living?  Do they have family?  Could I be standing next to their daughter or niece?  But I couldn’t help but wonder.  As I stood in what once was their home, I felt sure I was looking at a poor reflection of who these people really were.

[click to continue…]

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From Pleaser to LifeVestor

by Andy Wood on June 24, 2008

in LV Alter-egos, Pleasers

People PleaserI have a confession to make.  It won’t come as a big surprise to those who know me best or work with me closest.

Deep breath – here goes…

I have a hard time saying, “No.”

There, I said it.  I like making people happy, and for as long as I can remember, I couldn’t stand to disappoint people or hurt their feelings.

In balance, that can be a good thing.  Helps with the whole relationships and people skills thing and all.  Out of balance, it can lead to some bad choices at work and some really unhealthy life choices as well.

In its ultimate expression, people-pleasers become codependents.  Originating from our understanding of the behavior of the spouses of addicts, we have since learned that you don’t have to be involved with an addict to manifest that type of behavior.

Like the other three LifeVesting alter-egos – consumers, hoarders, and gamblers – pleasers twist a virtue into a vice.  In the area of their life resources, they use their resources to buy love or approval.  Often cloaked in an illusion of responsibility, these people give out of an unhealthy desire to “fix” someone they love, or rescue them (often repeatedly) from a crisis.

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From Consumer to LifeVestor

by Andy Wood on April 3, 2008

in Consumers, Life Currency, LV Alter-egos, Money, Time

Scarlett“I can shoot straight, if I don’t have to shoot too far.” 

“I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

-Scarlett O’Hara, “Gone With the Wind”

Everybody is fascinated with Scarlett.  But nobody wants to admit how much like her we can be.

One way to understand LifeVesting is to define it in terms of what it isn’t.  LifeVestors have four alter-egos:  consumers, hoarders, gamblers, and codependents.  Today I’d like to introduce you to the first.

While in the purest economic sense everyone is a spender, the Consumers I’m talking about are takers.  They spend their money, their time, their relationships on today’s wants and needs.  Their primary focus is on themselves – though not always in an intentionally selfish way.  They come to church for what they can get out of it.  They spend their time and money in ways that, when spent, are gone forever.  For them, there is no other moment but now.  Tomorrow will take care of itself. 

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No Such Thing as Ordinary

by Andy Wood on March 31, 2008

in Exploring the Possibilities, Following Your Passion, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle

DandelionTake a look at this exquisite photo. It was taken by a guy in the UK named Wez Smith. I found it yesterday, and remembered again what an amazingly beautiful world is that we live in.

Know what it is?

I’ll tell you in a minute.

Don’t you love how even the seeming imperfections of each petal all come together to form a beautiful whole?

How even the “rough edges” all come together in a symphony of striking color?

How whatever that seed part in the middle is called (I’m no botanist) suggests the amazing reproducible wonder of future life? Future potential? Even more beauty?

Figured out what it is yet, Mr. Green Jeans?

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The Simplest Budget in the World

by Andy Wood on March 27, 2008

in Leadership, Life Currency, Money, Time

BudgetThere are four things – and only four things – you can spend your money on.  Like me, you may keep up with your finances with computer program that has a vast array of categories.  You may be a day planner diva, able instantly to analyze what occupies your time.  But it still comes down to just four things.

Are you a leader, or a leader wannabe?  There are four – and only four – directions of leadership.

There are four – and only four – foundations of wisdom.

Same goes for other LifeVesting Currencies – esteem, love, words, and abilities.  There are four sources or directions for each:

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