Love

The Myriad

by Andy Wood on June 6, 2011

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

Who is the shyest person you know?  Picture them in your mind.  Got it?  Good.  Now…

Imagine that person at the end of his or her life.  And sometime just before they kiss this world good-bye they’re the guest of honor at the most amazing invitation-only celebration.  This party is reserved for those whose life has somehow been touched – influenced – by Shy Guy himself.

Care to hazard a guess how many names are on the invitation list?

Ten thousand.  A myriad.  Ten thousand people whose lives are influenced by the most reserved, quiet girl or guy you know.

That’s nothing compared to the lives that have been impacted by bubbly ol’ you.  And this isn’t about somebody else’s influence.  It’s about yours.

This is about your myriad.  Or in your case, perhaps your million.  It’s about all the people who make decisions because of you.  Who make changes because of you.  Who establish relationships, try something new, dig deeper, grow wiser, or go farther because of your influence.  Or, it’s about the people who grow hard-hearted, discouraged, dispirited, or fearful because you showed them how.

Somebody’s watching.  Somebody’s doing.  Somebody’s believing.  Somebody’s changing.  And they all have you to thank. [click to continue…]

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A Heart Once Captured Will Never Let Go

by Andy Wood on May 23, 2011

in Five LV Laws, Hoarders, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Stories, Principle of Freedom

You wouldn’t have known from meeting Martha the first time that her life had been a sinking ship.  Rewind from the near-poverty this single mother of two sons lived to the day she walked away from her “covering” – an abusive, controlling religious system.  Go back a bit further to the time her minister husband left her for another woman.  If you dare, rewind a bit more to the night she and her husband came home to find their third son, Matthew, dead in his crib from SIDS.

Life had not been kind.  But you wouldn’t know it from the courageous smile, the ox-like willingness to work, and the radiant joy she had in her relationship with Jesus Christ.  Sure, Martha had her moments, and could cry with the worst of ‘em.  But a heart so captured by the grace of God will cling to it, even when everything else seems lost.

I once asked her why she didn’t just walk away, since loving and serving God had been so costly.  I don’t remember any words – just the look on her face that let me know I had just asked the most absurd question possible.

A heart once captured will never let go. [click to continue…]

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How Growed Up Are You?

by Andy Wood on April 27, 2011

in Consumers, Enlarging Your Capacity, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Increase, Words

Frankford and 82nd.  Sitting at the light.  Laura Kate (age almost-3) and I have been on an adventure.  And she is about to ask me a very important question.  But first, a slight rewind…

“Laura Kate, first we’ll go to the grocery store.  Then we’ll go by Grammy’s office and pick up some prizes she has for you.”

“That’s an awesome plan,” she says.

In between, she learns six (count ‘em) verses of an Easter song her uncle Joel and I wrote when he wasn’t much older than she is now.  Which brings us to the traffic light near our house on the way home.

“Papa,” says the voice in the back seat.  “Are you growed up?”

“What did you say?” I reply.  “Am I growed up?”

“Yes,” she says, very seriously.

“Yeah,” I mutter.  “I’m growed up.”

“Yay, Papa!  You did it!”

Sometimes I wonder.

I wish it was that easy to claim maturity.  Sometimes I think I’m still a kid when it comes to such things.  And sometimes I feel, well, old.  But there’s a difference between growing up and growing old.  Peter Pan and his Lost Boys were only half right.

It’s OK to be a baby when you’re still a baby.  But there comes a time when the word of God and the world of people come together to shout, “Grow up!” After addressing the Corinthians as a pack of carnal children, Paul writes to the Ephesians that “we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

How do you measure your maturity?  How do you know when you’re growing and when you’re floundering?  Let me hasten to say that maturity isn’t found in big words or fat bank accounts, or your ability to make babies or get a job (although keeping a job may impress a few people).

In gauging your maturity level, I have found five things that act as measuring rods for progress.  You are as mature as: [click to continue…]

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Beautiful Justice, Scandalous Love

by Andy Wood on April 22, 2011

in Life Currency, Love, Photos, Tense Truths

A man was brought into court for trial and found guilty.  The judge happened to be a close boyhood friend of the accused, although they had not seen each other for many years.  Remaining impartial, the judge sentenced the defendant and levied a penalty – a fine – appropriate to his crime.  The fine was so large that the accused could not pay it, so a jail sentence seemed to be the only alternative.

The judge then did a very unusual thing.  Leaving the bench, he approached the convicted man, shook his hand, and announced, “I’m paying the fine for you.”  There in the courtroom the law was satisfied, and so was love.

Beautiful justice.  Scandalous love.

What a picture of the cross.

At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree

On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me

Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white

On that beautiful, scandalous night.

The ultimate intersection:  two beams connected, the vertical and the horizontal.  One pointed to God, one reached out to man.  And there, suspended between heaven and earth, the Prince of Glory was judged in love.

The ultimate paradox:  how could something so ugly be so beautiful?

The ultimate collision:  sin met grace.

The ultimate demonstration:  the love of God and the sin of man.

The ultimate betrayal:  thirty stinking pieces of silver for the life of the Son of God.

The ultimate rejection:  unconditional love, hammered through with nails.

The ultimate ransom:  innocent blood for guilty humanity.

Beautiful justice.  Scandalous love. [click to continue…]

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A Heart Made Glad

by Andy Wood on April 19, 2011

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

To know I can rise to the dawn of a new day,

Having surrendered my fatigued sorrows to a night of rest…

To see my hope ascend with the sun

And feel the comfort that only Your presence can provide…

This is the story,

This is the song

Of a heart made glad by love.

 

To hear the sound of laughter in places reserved for mourning,

Knowing the troubles are lighter lately because You carry my load… [click to continue…]

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The Circle’s End

by Andy Wood on March 29, 2011

in Insight, Life Currency, Tense Truths

Phillip’s down, and he thinks he’s out.

Life hasn’t been kind to the 33-year-old; in fact, life has been brutally unfair.  In just one calendar year, Phillip left his friends due to a job transfer, lost the job that transferred him due to downsizing, suffered an excruciating ankle break in a pick-up basketball game, and separated from his wife of seven years, though they are working on things.

Phillip tries to be hopeful when everything around him feels fatal.  But he can’t mask the confusion.  How can a year that started with such promise and confidence leave him feeling so lost and broken?  How can a life driven with such expectancy just a few months ago feel so aimless now?

But what Phillip can’t see because he’s in too deep is how close he is to the Circle’s End.

Karen can’t believe her eyes, but there’s no mistaking that little “plus” sign.  After months and months of futility, what she has dreamed of all her life is finally happening.  She’s going to have a baby.   That’s a much better explanation for that morning nausea than “stomach flu.”

The enchantment she and her husband are feeling is surely a precursor of things to come.  The family they both have dreamed of.  The joy and delights of holding that little one for the first time.  The expectancy that life has made a turn for the better, and there is nowhere to go but forward.

And she’s right… to a point.  But just as tides ebb and flow, Karen will eventually reach the Circle’s End.

However you would classify your circumstances, one thing is certain – they’re anything but still. [click to continue…]

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Image of the Anointed

by Andy Wood on March 2, 2011

in 100 Words, Life Currency, Love, Photos

…the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me (Song of Solomon 2:12)


Be like the dove, He said… [click to continue…]

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The Lovely Moment

by Andy Wood on February 28, 2011

in Five LV Laws, Following Your Passion, Life Currency, Love, LV Cycle, Photos, Principle of Eternity, Time

One of Friday's Lovely Moments -Cohen's first haircut, and I got to BE the front-row seat.

Nobody has to convince you that life is busy and blazes by at the speed of, well, life.  Expressions like, “Where did all the time go?” are the stuff of every-day conversation.

Sometimes that can feel painfully lonely as we emerge from the grindstone and wonder where everybody went.

Sometimes that can feel out of control as we are swept away by the rhythm and melody of somebody else’s music.

And yet…

And yet…

Even in the craziness, the busyness, and the where’d-it-all-go, life has a way of presenting what Roger Breland calls a Lovely Moment  – those experiences where even if for a brief pause, life seems to come up for air and fill your heart.

Sometimes the Lovely Moment arrives in the form of a long-anticipated event, like your wedding day, graduation, or the birth of a child or grandchild.

Sometimes the Lovely Moment comes as a complete surprise, when suddenly you realize how full your heart is because of a special memory, a future conversation played out in your mind, the joyful news of a friend, or a reminder somehow that you’re being thought of.

The Lovely Moment can be an elusive thing, but only because we’re too busy, too wounded, too stressed, or too blinded to open our eyes and see them.  The truth is, Lovely Moments are in abundant supply… [click to continue…]

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The Life Shaper You Can Become

by Andy Wood on February 7, 2011

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

In the previous post, we explored the idea of Life Shapers – the people who help make you more than you naturally would be in specific areas.  Some people influence you to be stronger, wiser, funnier or more committed to excellence.  Others may influence you to be fearful, suspicious, negative, or angry – all by the ways they interact with you.

This may explain why you’re drawn to the friends you have.  Maybe you like them, or maybe you like the person you are when you’re with them.

It may also suggest some people you need to avoid.  What your Mama (and the Bible) told you about bad company rings true in many cases.  But I’m not just talking about party animals or thieves.  If they constantly leave you feeling shamed, rejected, angry or afraid, maybe it’s time to choose a new set of influences.

Quoting from the last post…

You are who you are largely because of the people who believe in you, have you in their hearts, and expect the best (or worst) from you.  This may be a good time to say “thank you” to the ones who are building you up, and “good-bye” to the ones who tear you down.

And for those who still answer when you call or read what you write, maybe it’s time to wise up – and rise up – to the life-shaper you can be.

Bringing Out the Best in Others

Do you realize the potential you have to be a life shaper?  You are just as much a potential influence on others as they are on you.  And while your nonverbal communication is still much stronger, there are some intentional things you can do to bring out the best in others. [click to continue…]

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Living in Light of the Limits of Time

by Andy Wood on January 19, 2011

in Allocating Your Resources, Consumers, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Principle of Eternity, Time

Quick question:  What would you do if you knew that you only had 30 days to live the life you now have?  After that, your will life will be completely redefined. 

You aren’t dead – just relocated.

Every relationship:  history.

Every past accomplishment:  strictly a thing of the past.

Every possession:  soon to be somebody else’s.

Maybe, for the sake of playing out the fantasy side of the question, it’s a witness relocation effort or something.  But regardless, the clock is ticking, and life as you know it is drawing to a close.

What would you do?  Who would you do it with?  How would you approach the growing, grim reality? [click to continue…]

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