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Discipline

The Lesson of the Butterfly

by Andy Wood on September 19, 2011

in Ability,Five LV Laws,Life Currency,LV Cycle,Principle of Freedom,Tense Truths,Waiting

Jason meant well.  But his efforts to help the butterfly-to-be only ended in disaster.  For days he had watched the cocoon and wondered what it would produce.  Finally he noticed a tiny opening in the cocoon’s wall.  On the other side, the new life form was struggling furiously – desperately – to be free of its self-designed prison.  Feeling compassion for the little creature, the boy found a sharp knife and carefully cut the cocoon’s wall in order to relieve it from its struggle.

The butterfly soon died.  Its wings were grossly deformed, and it was unable to fly.  What appeared to be a struggle was actually the process by which the animal’s wings are formed.  Jason had short-circuited the process, and the results, though unintentional, were tragic.

You and I are very much like the butterfly.  We are often wrapped up in our own kinds of cocoons – alone, stifled, limited, longing to be free.  Sometimes these are prisons of our own doing – addictions, bondage to sin, broken relationships, stupid decisions.   At other times our cocoons are thrust upon us in the form of disappointments, losses of loved ones, extended illnesses, or the abuse of others.  Either way, the results are the same.  Why do we feel so alone?  What in the world is God up to?  Where will we ever find relief?  When will we be “free to fly” again?  How will we make it through another day? [click to continue…]

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How to Set Your Heart on Fire

by Andy Wood on August 26, 2011

in Ability,Allocating Your Resources,Five LV Laws,Insight,Life Currency,Love,LV Cycle,Principle of Increase

Grab a pen and a legal pad.  You’ve got some writing to do, and you get one chance to get this right.  Soon your number’s going to be called, and there’ll be no more letters, no more encouraging, no more leading…

…no more living.

Everything you have worked for on this side of eternity is hanging in the balance.  And the guy you’ve picked as your successor – your standard bearer?

He’s AWOL.

Some people, when they burn out, act out.  This guy burned out, and hid out.

And you have one chance to light a fire under him before somebody, well, lights a fire under you, so to speak.  What would you say?  How would you say it?  Is this a time for force or finesse?  Rah-rah or sob-sob? [click to continue…]

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Humanizing the Rule Book

by Andy Wood on July 20, 2010

in Leadership,Life Currency,LV Cycle,Protecting Your Investment,Tense Truths

Your most trusted employee visits your email inbox with a request for a meeting.  When you find the time to get together, he discloses to you that he has a substance abuse problem that requires in-house treatment.  Upon further review, you discover that his abuse took place on more than one occasion while on the job – a fireable offense.  This is his first sign of trouble.  What do you do?

Your teenage daughter is at a friend’s house for a sleepover; you know the friend and are at least familiar with the friend’s parents.  You’re awakened at 1:20 a.m. by your daughter asking you to bail her out of jail.  The charge:  drunk driving.  This is the second time you have caught her drinking, but the first time you have had any evidence of drinking and driving.  How do you respond?

Your youth pastor has been rumored or accused of inappropriate relationships with girls in his youth groups – one former, one current – which he vehemently denies.  He explains that he was just showing Christian concern for someone who had been abused or hurt in the past, and his kindness was misinterpreted.  Nevertheless, Scripture is clear that there shouldn’t even be a hint of immorality or impurity among God’s people, and particularly leaders.  The youth pastor is very popular among the students, but has his critics among your adults.  Keeping him could leave you liable to a lawsuit or public accusation; firing him could decimate your youth group.  What do you do? [click to continue…]

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The Foolproof Plan for Profiting

by Andy Wood on April 26, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity,Five LV Laws,Insight,Life Currency,LV Cycle,Principle of Freedom,Principle of Increase

If I were to tell you that I can show you a completely foolproof plan to make extraordinary gains in every dimension of your life, would you be interested in learning more?

Yes, money.  Still curious?

Relationships, too.  How ‘bout now?

Sure, it works for getting more out of your time, improving your professional life, and deepening your spiritual life.

This one secret, handed down through ancient wisdom, has always – always – marked the difference between winners and wannabes.

Oh, and what if I were to tell you that this guarantee is backed up by God Himself?  Meaning, of course, that it works for all time and eternity, too. 

I know, I know.  If it’s that obvious, and that old, everybody else will know it and be doing it, right?

Not exactly. [click to continue…]

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The Day from Hell

by Andy Wood on April 24, 2010

in Enlarging Your Capacity,Five LV Laws,Insight,Life Currency,LV Cycle,Principle of Freedom,Turning Points

“I swear, I keep thinking, if somehow I press through, I can get where I want to go.  If, of course, it doesn’t kill me or I don’t kill myself in the process.”  (from my journal, July 18, 2005)

+++++++

“This is warfare,” Robin said.

“It’s God!” I snapped back, dispirited and resigned.  “Let’s just go home.”

Well, there you have it.  Now you know what we fight about at my house. 

It was the day from hell.  It started with a hard funeral – a suicide victim – at which I was to speak.  My message to the grieving family and friends was to “be still – cease striving – and know that he is God.”  It was on a Monday, following a very harried and stressful Sunday, in the middle of a very harried and stressful summer.  

But this was the Monday when the scenery was supposed to change.  With the help of my office staff, we had scheduled a trip to the mountains to write.

As in, the LifeVesting book.

Here’s a little proverbial advice, for what it’s worth:  Beware of trying to change your scenery on Monday.  [click to continue…]

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Sissies and Wimps Need Not Apply

by Andy Wood on April 12, 2010

in Executing Your Plan,Five LV Laws,Principle of Freedom

“It’s going to be fun to watch and see how long the meek can keep the earth once they inherit it”  -Kin Hubbard.

“The meek shall inherit the earth – if that’s okay with everybody” (Motto of the Dependent Organization of Really Meek and Timid Souls, or D.O.O.R.M.A.T).  -J. Upton Dickson

“He leads the humble in what is right, teaching them his way. The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all those who keep his covenant and obey his decrees.”  -Psalm 25:9-10, NLT

It’s quiet on this Monday morning, except for the sound of a rooster and a fiddle, an infant’s grunts from his swing, and a toddler’s delighted dancing as she watches – again – the Baby Einstein “Life on the Farm” video.  Watching the two of them – especially with scenes from an abundant earth passing by – reminds me from the last post how we were wired from creation and birth. 

We were created to inherit the earth.  It’s in our DNA.  But in the wisdom of God, He knew we would need help.  His help.  Without it, we have the capacity to do – well, what we’ve pretty much done with the planet.

That’s why Jesus – quoting Psalm 37 – said that the delighted happiness that comes from inheriting the earth is reserved for a specific kind of person.  Yep – the meek.

So He Reserves It for Sissies?

Not exactly.  [click to continue…]

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The Law of the Nail

by Andy Wood on March 19, 2010

in Executing Your Plan,Five LV Laws,LV Cycle,Principle of Increase

Ever hear of the Law of the Hammer?  Also called The Law of the Instrument, it has been attributed to both Abraham Maslow and Abraham Kaplan (neither of whom were carpenters, I don’t think).

The Law of the Hammer is based on the idea that people tend to look for cure-alls or over-use familiar tools, especially in dealing with people.  It says, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”

Wise.  In other words, diversify your toolbox.

I’m not a carpenter either, and six months of bending nails in 1979-80 can attest to that.  But I’ve spent a lot of my life building, working with, leading, and being an instrument of healing to people.  And I have observed a corollary to the Law of the Hammer that is important to remember in dealing with people.  I call it The Law of the Nail:

If you are a nail, and especially if you’ve been pounded a time or two, everything (and everybody) looks like a hammer.

I’ve been on all sides of that.  I’ve been the nail.  Banged the nail.  Straightened out bent nails.  Sat in on more than my share of Nails Anonymous meetings (including pastors’ prayer meetings).  I’ve hired nails to go to work for me without realizing how pounded they had been.  And I have learned, sometimes the hard way, that living in a broken world means working with and leading broken or bruised people.  So at the risk of pounding the metaphor too much (sorry), here are some ideas for finding healing if you are the nail, or in the next post, working with and leading the nails in your organization or workplace. [click to continue…]

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God, the Goose, and the Golden Egg

by Andy Wood on May 1, 2009

in Allocating Your Resources,Five LV Laws,Hoarders,LV Alter-egos,LV Cycle,Principle of Abundance,Protecting Your Investment,Waiting

goose-golden-eggRemember the story Aesop told about the goose and the golden egg?  The implications and applications are powerful, so let’s take another look.

The fable is about a poor farmer who one day discovered in the nest of his pet goose a glittering golden egg.  At first, he thought it must be some kind of trick.  But as he started to throw the egg aside, he had second thoughts and took it in to be appraised instead.

The egg was pure gold!  The farmer couldn’t believe his good fortune.  He became even more incredulous the following day when the experience was repeated.  Day after day, he awakened to rush to the nest and find another golden egg.  He became fabulously wealthy; it all seemed too good to be true.

But with his increasing wealth came greed and impatience.  [click to continue…]

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The Day of Small Things (and People)

by Andy Wood on October 20, 2008

in Ability,Enlarging Your Capacity,Five LV Laws,Life Currency,LV Cycle,Principle of Increase,Uncategorized

You were born little, with bigness in your DNA.

You were born naked, longing to be warmed and dressed.

You were born penniless, and learned fairly quickly that this was not good.

Even of you’re a twin or other multiple, you were born completely alone, but wired to be relational.

You were born on purpose.  And your purpose may still lie in front of you.  (What DO you want to be when you grow up?)

To get from here to there, you will most likely pass through a series of completely lame, boring, and maddeningly time-consuming stages.  Yes, you’ll experience a few leaps.  For the rest, you’d better get used to celebrating some baby steps.

God called it the Day of Small Things.

The Day of Small Things is the crawl that comes before the walk.  The work that comes before the reward.  The doing-something-anything that comes before doing something awesome.  It’s boot camp and kindergarten, school and internships, and progress-before-perfection. [click to continue…]

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The Popcorn Tree

by Andy Wood on September 5, 2008

in Enlarging Your Capacity,LV Cycle,Turning Points

The LifeVesting Cycle

1. Allocate your resources.
2. Explore the possibilities.
3. Follow your passion
4. Execute your plan.
5. Protect your investment.

6. Enlarge your capacity

When I was still a kid, my dad built a flower box for my mom. We got some nice, rich soil from a place behind our house where we had a lot of mulch and trees. She planted some flowers in the box, and we were excited to see what would come out.

What came out was something that at first looked like a weed. But this was no weed. It was a tree. A popcorn tree, my dad said.

I was entranced. It was my first sense of fatherhood and stewardship, all rolled into one.

If you aren’t familiar with them, popcorn trees, or Chinese tallows, grow in moist climates. They grow rapidly, and can get pretty big. They make great shade and ornamental trees, and in the fall, their seeds split open to appear like popcorn.

I watched this little tree take off, and soon we transplanted it from the flower box to the front yard. We got more and more into trees, and soon found four more popcorn trees – then some redbuds and dogwoods. I had this sense of pride and ownership in all of them, but none more than the original – the queen of the yard – as she quickly grew taller than the eaves of our house.

Then one day the unthinkable happened. I came up the street to my house, and found the most horrific sight. Someone (my dad) had taken shears and whacked my tree off at about six feet. The queen of the yard now had a crew cut.

It was ugly.

Shameful.

Hideous.

“Pruning,” he called it.

“Disaster” was what I called it.

Of course, my dad knew a whole lot more about trees and all things agricultural than I ever will. (I once asked him, “How’d you get so smart?” He said, “I keep my ears open and my mouth shut.”)

Anyway, the queen began to reshape. To spread. To grow, not just taller, but shapelier, even more beautiful.

This life lesson became even more applicable to me as I grew spiritually. [click to continue…]

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