Okay, so try this. Let’s take a little mental inventory. Go back to the twilight of your thinking last night – that mental place where you drift between the time you close your eyes and the time you actually go to sleep. (I can tell you mine, but I’m saving it for a future blog post… watch for something called the “three A’s.”)
Or… how about the first line of thinking out of the mental gate this morning – that place where your mind went before you got out of bed?
Was it something to do?
Something you were worried about?
Some pressure, or pain? Or some pleasure or something/someone you were grateful for?
Was it a longing, or an idea? Or a feeling of dread?
Recapture that thought or line of thinking for a minute… then go behind it… and look for the desire. Based on your thinking, mentally complete this sentence: “I want to _____________.”
It could be something you want to feel.
Could be something you want to accomplish.
Could be something you want to experience.
Could be somebody you want to connect with, serve, or resolve an issue with.
Got it yet? Okay, let’s dig a little deeper. [click to continue…]
I’m a list maker. You have your quirks; that’s mine. Not so much the “to-do” variety – that would make me look more organized than I really am. My lists are the more thoughtful type. Let me tell you where it all started.
A few years ago I was reading a book about getting out of debt. Somewhere in the middle of it, the author, Jerrold Mundis, inserted a simple little chapter on goals. He said that while we were in the process of becoming debt-free, it would he helpful to remember why that was important to us in the first place. So he suggested setting goals.
Okay, now! You’re talkin’ my language! I love goals. I’ve read extensively on goal setting, achievement, success, and vision. The gleam in my eye began to shine in eager anticipation.
Make a list, he said.
That’s it?
That was it.
Actually, he suggested three. [click to continue…]
I live in an area in which cotton farming is a multi-million-dollar enterprise. Care to hazard a guess about how much time the farmers here spend stripping or picking cotton?
About two weeks.
Everything that determines their futures for another year comes down to a two-week process. And yet, it’s what they do during the other 50 weeks of the year that will make or break the success of their harvest.
It’s all about the cycle, and where they are on it.
You may not be a farmer, but you were created to be a harvester of sorts. God created you with the capacity to envision a better future and a rewarding eternal state. But in most worthwhile pursuits, you don’t have the luxury of microwaving your results in a matter of minutes. While his medals were earned in a matter of seconds, Michael Phelps didn’t jump into a pool for the first time in June. His victories were the crowning achievement of his training cycle.
We, too, experience life in a variety of cycles. The seasons, economic cycles, and generational cycles come to mind. LifeVesting is no different. Each of the Laws of LifeVesting operate on cycles of continuous movement.
Don’t think of these as a locked-in sequence of steps; life is wonderfully much messier than that. Instead, think of the LifeVesting cycle as a flow of activity, moving from one stage to another. Over the next few days, I’d like to explore these with you. [click to continue…]
“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.
[click to continue…]
Okay, so try this. Let’s take a little mental inventory. Go back to the twilight of your thinking last night – that mental place where you drift between the time you close your eyes and the time you actually go to sleep. (I can tell you mine, but I’m saving it for a future blog post… watch for something called the “three A’s.”)