Tag Archives: influence

Opportunity

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Cyndy Lavoie CoachingProfessionalism will never steer us wrong. Holding back on comments, reserving judgments, and keeping ‘us’ out of our responses enables a space in which much can happen.

The opposite, where comments are too-easy to come by, where judgments are without understanding, and where ‘us’ drives the entire process, we actually and in fact find process (and might I say progress) shut down.

Not much can happen in a space encroached upon by opinion.

Opportunity needs a nurturing space to grow as much as any of us.

We give a child room to grow. We hold back our warnings We refuse to utter threats. We do not dare foretell the future for we get it that a child is a living being, capable of much, wired to grow and to expand, equipped with intuitive strengths that will in fact lead him or her forward naturally.

The same is true of ourselves and each other. Nurtured with safe spaces we will naturally grow, we will mature, we will get to that next level, we will find our passion and go after it. These things need not be made up, but they can certainly be shut down.

Our organizations and our opportunities, our teams and our projects are the same. Nurtured with safe spaces they will naturally grow, mature, get to that next level and congruent with inherent passion.

Professionalism understands this and holds back on comments, judgments and opinion. For nothing shuts opportunity down faster than these things.

Wisdom is clear but also subtle. We must be the same. Walking in wisdom and in that professional space where ‘what we think’ takes a back seat, we find expansion and growth that we never dreamed of.

Humility understands that there are many more pieces to any pie than what we are seeing at any given time. We are not omniscient.

Lessons

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real emotions and strong livesI am the Mom of five kids. They are mostly grown, and over the years I’ve been a relatively unorthodox Mom in many ways.

Pretty laid back, seeing the big picture, relaxed and generally trusting, they too have come to realize that I’m a bit abnormal as Moms go.

Over the years they themselves have affirmed, “Wow Mom, I didn’t realize how cool and chill you are!”

Of course there were the oddities. I didn’t let them watch Walt Disney movies when they were kids (just way too much deception and lies cloaked in niceness, BLUCK!)

(they still give me a hard time about this)

But they did watch ‘real’ movies much sooner than any of their friends did. Movies that portrayed real emotions, real situations, real truths and real lies; all upfront and easy to see.

We scrapped the manipulative ‘here is how to be a good girl or boy’ children’s stories. I figured if I felt like throwing up glancing through them, why would I subject such stuff on my kids!

Instead we relished in honest tales, like The Bronze Bow, Who Owns the Sun, and Bruchko, just to name a few.

I’ll never forget the week we were reading the story of Jim Elliot. A missionary in the Ecuadorian Jungle who was speared to death by the Waodani Tribesmen living there. And how we ended our week at Missions Fest to witness Steve Saint (whose Father was also killed the same), and one of the men who done the killing, there, live and in person, sharing their grand story of redemption.

Real life learning. Tangible lessons.

Honest emotions.

Thing is, the goal is not to be good. The goal is definitely NOT to be nice.

(Going after nice or good become their own idolatry!)

And though we are not on a quest to be bad or mean, when we hold up outer accoutrements rather than inner honesty, we walk in falseness.

And when we don’t know ourselves, we cannot know others or God in any real emotional intimacy.

Our body language will tell one story and our words will tell another. Emotions will frighten us, and strong passion will make us uncomfortable. We will not be able to manage groups well, for which of our many personalities do we present when with many?

Congruency and honesty within our inner core takes a lot of work. Initially it means that we shed good and nice, and that we get on with real.

The lessons I hope my kids have learned:

– Be yourself

– Stand tall

– Live honest

– Hold your space

– Walk in passion

And finally – God is big enough

No one is fooled by veneers. We may think others can’t read us. But its just not the truth. Everything about you screams… everything about you.

Go for the honest. Go for the real. Go for healthy.

Notorious

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P1260728 flipped compressedI heard my name.

It was a chilly, slightly rainy evening at Maama Bosa’s. The radio was on and through the (unintelligible to me) words came my name, ‘Cyndy’, more Ugandan, then the word ‘Muzunga’ (which is my second name in Africa, it means English or white Person), more Ugandan, and then the word ‘Canada’.

Cyndy + Muzunga + Canada

“They must be talking about me” I realized. Although through the dampened rainy evening, when even our thinking slowed down, it took me some time to absorb this concept.

But I’d been to the radio station on an earlier trip, and had even made a short commercial, “Hi I’m Cyndy from Canada and when I’m in Uganda I listen to…” My short burst of stardom!

I have no idea what the radio was announcing this time. I was there alongside local leaders hosting a three day conference and crusade in the town of Madudu, and the week after that we began a Bible School for rural pastors.

My day of arriving in Madudu brought immediate greetings. Still some miles away from my destination, a child called my name, “Cyynnddyy” as I passed on the boda-boda. In other words, I stand out everywhere I go in Africa, there is no blending in.

I mentioned to Maama Bosa how I’d been greeted by name some miles out and how tickled pink I was, and she replied that now I was ‘notorious’!

Not quite the way we like to use that word, but maybe it is closest to the truth!

My point in all of this, is how easy it is to make an impression and to make a difference in the world. And I have been reminded in these trips to Uganda (actually really got it for the first time), how much power we as individuals carry.

There is incredible power to encourage, to bless and to empower others, just by who we are in this world. We all have this available to us, and we all walk in it in various amounts every day. But we don’t all know it, and we are not very often intentional in it.

It all comes in the power of showing up, and of engaging a person, a gathering, a community.

This doesn’t have to happen across the seas, but it should be happening. And it can be happening. Right in your and my back yard.

It is time that more of us become notorious.

How might you be notorious today?

Where might you show up?

Positioning ourselves to bless others takes intentionality, it takes an ability to see a bigger picture than the one we live in each day, and it takes a risk to meet those we’ve not met before.

But positioning ourselves to bless others reaps incredible satisfactions and is in fact what save us from ourselves.

A life turned in becomes stagnant and dies an unnatural death. A life turned out, yields impact we will never be able to measure, and will never really understand.

I don’t know what the radio man was announcing that day in Uganda, but I am glad to be making a difference of some sort in this world. Will I ever really get what that is? No, I won’t. We never do.

And you won’t either. The impact you are making, you won’t really ever understand. But trust me, it is significant. So keep walking, become notorious, and allow the satisfactions of simply showing up, spur you on.

Forward ho, God-speed ahead.

A Better Way

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questions about educationOn my last trip to Uganda, I left money for the sponsorship of a young man as he finishes his schooling.

Living with his Grandma who is a widow, and without a Father to provide for him, I am glad to relieve his worry about funds for school, so that he might simply focus on his studies.

I have seen and understood that the opportunity to spend very little money ensures an education and best advantage going forward for many in developing nations. But I’ve also seen the backside of sponsoring.

While kid needs education, food and clothes, school supplies and maybe a pair of shoes, sponsorship has also crippled the people. And so, though I am personally sponsoring a young man as he finishes his eduction, I am also riddled with mixed emotions as to the long-term effects overall.

I find the tell-tale signs in many of the adults. Those who are used to western money being spent on an entire countries welfare, used to western money being the solution and the way. The only way.

In many ways, the biggest work in Africa that I have encountered, is this tunnel vision that cannot see its way past the need for western money. An idolatry of sorts, the vision of the people has been foreshortened and nearsighted.

“Sponsorship is the only answer” is the mantra of the many.

Yet, this simply isn’t so. As a coach I know that there are always solutions outside of our line of vision. Always.

That just behind the blinders are answers that, until the blinders are removed, we cannot see or imagine.

Do we want the blinders, or the solutions? We can have one or the other, but not both.

I certainly don’t know what the answer is. But I am pretty sure it is time to change the way we are doing things.

The conversations that I have been following from Africa are telling as well. They themselves are seeing that in light of 50 years of western aid and literally billions and billions of dollars, that they, the people and nations are little further ahead than before, “It is time to get our stuff together” they say.

‘How might we assist in building of a sense of sufficiency within a people?’ is most likely the question to be asking. And certainly what we at Capturing Courage International are intent on discovering.

A Compelling Case

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action that moves usWhat moves you?

A compelling case for action is hard to come by.

Complacency is often the order of the day.

We get into our routines and settled into the rhythms of our individual lives and it can be quite difficult to do anything different than what we did last week or last month or last year.

Unfortunately, complacency will never benefit our lives.

Each one of us are wired for something. The task: to find what that something is.

A compelling case for action is the only thing that saves us from complacency.

In case you are unsure if complacency is such a bad thing, consider this:

“She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned”

This is a passage from Ezekial 16 and it is talking about Sodom and the reason for its destruction.

“… arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned”

And they were destroyed because of it.

I’ve the feeling that complacency masquerades. My own complacency I can easily call faith. But faith doesn’t sit back and wait, faith goes forward in action.

Complacency does not go forth in action, it sits back and waits.

There are certainly times to be waiting, and yet can you feel it, that numbness over our days. Like we are going through the motions and it feels real to us and yet…

There must be more ‘real’ than this?

So again, what compels you to action?

Focus on that thing. Invest in that.

Move on that

Only Boys Aloud

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AffirmationThe last weeks my attention has been caught by Britain’s Got Talent. With auditions and semi-finals and finals, my votes were on a few notable talents.

Take a few minutes to watch this performance for instance: 

Only Boys Aloud – Welsh Choir

I don’t know about you, but I found them absolutely beautiful.

Not the only inspiring performance, there were most assuredly others.

And as I watched a number of these auditions a number of times, I was struck by how each didn’t really know how they had done.

Would they receive the coveted four ‘Yes’s’ or not?

Just as these lads at the end, so touched and relieved and over-joyed at the favorable response. Surprised in fact.

Yet to those of us watching, it is very apparent very early on that Only Boys Aloud Choir would in fact receive four approvals to the next round.

It wasn’t even a question in our minds, they were that good.

We could see it, could feel it.

Yet they didn’t know it, didn’t have that same confidence.

It was the same with all the very best performances.

While the worst of the performances were truly surprised that they didn’t get through, the very best didn’t all the way know how great they were.

And isn’t this the way with all of us.

We don’t really know how we are doing most of the time.

There are most likely brilliant things about the way you are doing life, are you aware of them?

There are most likely brilliant things about the way others around you are doing life,

Have you told them? Given your feedback?

We all need feedback, need to know where we are at and how we stand in any given endeavor.

For only then can we get better. Only then can we become the best we can be.

Give the gift of feedback today.

The Only Boys Aloud Welsh Choir took third place in Britain’s Got Talent, but even more than that, they’ve gone home with a jolt of much needed encouragement and affirmation.

Something that doesn’t do any one of us a bit of harm.

Affirm someone today.

Capturing God’s Heart – Promotion – Volume 8

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The book of Daniel is rich in wisdom and modeling of how to walk in integrity, how to focus and hold our ground, how to honor others, and most of all, how to advance through the Kingdom of God.

In the first chapter of Daniel we find Daniel holding his ground. He and three of his friends had been among the Israelite captives taken into exile to Babylon.

They were to be served the food from the King’s own table. But we read Daniel’s resolution in Daniel 1:8-15

“But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the King.” Daniel 1:8

Continue reading →

Work that Satisfies

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P1260740 compressedIf my last trip to Uganda was called ‘Experiencing’ this trip is called ‘Learning’.

It’s as though all the previous dozen years of visions and prophecy and wisdom is coming together into one dynamic whole.

All of what I am to be about, and what I am not to be about, is getting washed through in the mix of these days.

Like panning for gold, all the superfluous matter is being washed away.

I can’t tell you how good this feels.

To have a vision fine-tuned down to the very work, to the very core, means there is so much not to be done, that simplicity is all that is left.

But it’s not been without it’s challenges. There are those who would like to take what I am bringing to the table and organize it and plan for it and around it and into the future with it.

But of course… none of that is going to happen.

We’ve entered a new era in time. It’s not just through what I am doing and how God is leading me, but it is showing up across the globe and in almost every sector of society.

It’s the ability to move with agility and to remain nimble. To move with clear purpose but without a plan that is unwieldy or locks any one of us into place.

It is the era of the artist.

No matter your work or aspirations, your gifts or callings, the work of an artist is that which flows out of the core of our beings. Artists best work comes in the flow of our days and out of the depths of our hearts.

The guiding mantra of the artist are not clocks and time-frames, calendars or others expectations, but work that exemplifies care and expertise, work of masters and skilled craftsmen,

Work delivered right on time

In the words of Frederick Buechner, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the worlds deep hunger meet.”

It is the work of an artist.

The way of 9-5 and you are guaranteed a paycheck have passed. (In case you didn’t know it).

The work that pays the most these days are the works that come out of our very guts. Out of our souls and spirits.

But it is exactly the kind of work we shy away from,

For it is work that requires we give of ourselves, in great risk and with great passion.

This is the kind of work, the only kind of work, that meets the worlds deep hunger.

And it is the only kind of work that will ever satisfy. And the world is ready and waiting for this work. For the very work that will spring from your core is desperately needed somewhere.

It’s why every time a baby’s birth is announced I write, “Welcome to the world little one, the world has been waiting for you.”

Because it’s true.

Every single one of us have something unique to bring to the world, and each one of us have been uniquely positioned to bring that something, whether we know it or not, whether we will go after it or not,

It is there, waiting to be released, waiting to bless and be blessed

Every one of us has something that others are desperate for. Every one of us has something that others have been praying for. Every one of us has a touch of God that will change lives,

If we just take the time to touch, to reach, to stretch out past our comfort zones.

It is an exhilarating ride to say the least, scary as heck, uncertain as anything ever was, but oh so stunning in the process,

The world truly is waiting for you

Capturing God’s Heart – Leadership – Volume 5

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This volume look at leadership and how we mature in Christ.

As leaders we must always be developing and growing ourselves.

We cannot lead others in ways that we ourselves have not matured.

And maturing takes time. The development of character takes some work and some focus and a lot of asking the Lord to grow us.

Maturity does not happen by accident.

We must allow and invite change in the way we see and do life.

Continue reading →

Capturing God’s Heart – Faithfulness – Volume 2

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Volume Two:  Faithfulness

I have been reminded of God’s faithfulness and of the opportunity that we have to be faithful to God.

I’ve been reminded that even in the midst of life and the struggles we have, that God looks to our hearts. There will always be struggles and challenges, but regardless of difficulties, we can still respond to God in faithfulness in some small way.

Let’s begin by looking at God’s faithfulness to us. It is fabulous to read in 2 Peter 1:3, how God has granted us all things by which we may succeed with him:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. “ 2 Peter 1:3

The call to walk with God begins in our hearts alongside his heart. Sometimes we think we need to have more of this or more of that before we come to God. Sometimes we think we need to be great or better or… something. But the Bible is pretty clear that we do not need much to serve God, other than a willing heart.

The boy in the book of John had five loaves and two fish, and this was used in a mighty way.

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, ” John 6:9

Reading all of John 6:1-8 we find the full story and of how over 5000 people were fed from the five loaves and two fish.

In another passage we read that the widow with her two small coins was said to have much faith.

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said,

“Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

Quite profoundly, it is important to know that we do not need to wait until we have ‘more’ before we can be used by God.

( But Note: that the widow giving all she had to live on was a victim of the religious system that would demand of her, her money, in order to be right with God. She was under spiritual abuse and it would have been better if she kept her money for we are also told in scripture that we are to give out of what we have and not what we do not have. 2 Corinthians 8:12 )

We do not need more, we simply walk in faithfulness.

In whatever we have been given the question becomes, have we been faithful?

In Matthew we read of the man who buried his talent in the ground only to find the displeasure of the Master.

“I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!” Matthew 25:25-26

I suggest you read all of Matthew 25:14-30

Again:  We are simply asked to be faithful with what we have been given.

Examples of the kinds of things we may have been given:

• physical: home, belongings, food, land

• emotional: mercy, compassion, understanding

• community: influence, leadership, wisdom

• intellectually: intelligence, understanding, knowledge

• church: worship, encouragement, organization, service

• legacy: those things handed down from our parents, family traits that bless others

It does not matter what we have been given. There is no one thing that is better than any other. The key is that we are faithful with it before God.

What is God asking of us in this area? How might I honour God with this?

When we are faithful with the little, we find we will be trusted with much.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”  Matthew 25:21

As we are faithful we will find that our territory of influence increases.

In Isaiah we are told to enlarge our tent, for God is expanding our territory:

“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.” Isaiah 54:2-3

In faithfulness we sense the pleasure of the Father.

Whatever we have been given, faithfulness is the key. God looks past our circumstances and past all the good and bad of our lives and looks at our hearts.

“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

It is important to note that what have we been given is unique to each of us. We have all been gifted differently, and so we are called to walk a unique and very personal walk with the Lord.

It is therefore good to remember to leave space for others to respond in faithfulness to God, as God is asking it of them.  You and I cannot tell another what their faithfulness is supposed to be. 

This conversation of faithfulness takes us before the throne of God, one to one. One day we will be able to share with God what we did with all that he gave to us. 

Listing What You Have Been Given:

• Take some minutes to list the things that God has given to you.

• First invite God’s revelation. Then in the quiet of your heart and mind wait for the Holy Spirit to highlight and show you what you have been given.

• Write the things down as they come to you. Take as much time as you need.

• Think about how you impact people, the things you are able to do, the effect you leave behind.

When looking at our lives we find that faithfulness operates as past, present and future.  All through our lives we have had opportunity to faithfulness:

PAST

As youngsters it was about chores and schooling and in obedient response to whomever was raising us. As we grew we took on more responsibility and thereby greater opportunity to faithfulness.

Our faithfulness muscles grew. We become stronger before God and community. Others begin to notice our faithfulness and remark on it. Favour and open doors came our way, and we moved into larger responsibility.

Sometimes we have to go back and apologize for areas where we were not faithful. But even then, regardless of our past, it is never too late to begin in faithfulness today.

PRESENT

The present is all we have. So our primary focus is always what is before us at this time. 

Every day we have opportunity to increase in faithfulness. A few questions to consider:

What am I being asked to be faithful to today?

• What is in my immediate area of control?

• What and who am I responsible for?

• What are the tasks and people that I impact the most?

• Where do I make a difference?

• Am I being faithful today?

• And, how does faithfulness show up for me: In tasks, in the hearts of people, in the community at large?

KEY to this discussion: Where have I already been faithful?

Make a list of the things you have been faithful with.

Take your time, allow the holy spirit to show you, to give you pictures or words that 

highlight your faithfulness.

Let God affirm you and commend you, in your heart and in your spirit for your faithfulness already demonstrated.

“Well done good and faithful servant”

FUTURE

While our primary focus is always the present, we must also be faithful to what God tells us is coming and where he is leading our life.

It is our privilege to cooperate with the visions and prophecies that God reveals to us of our lives. These things speak of God’s heart for us and others, and asks a certain response of agreement and our efforts towards the same.

A few questions to consider as we look to the future:

• What are the prophecies over your life?

• How might you cooperate with God’s vision for your life?

• Expecting your territory to expand, how might you prepare for that?

In Summary:

Faithfulness to God’s spoken word over our lives results in larger territories. When we have been faithful in little we are given much.

Faithfulness is always walked out one step at a time.

Faithfulness is a personal journey with the Lord and cannot be compared to another.

Our gifts are different and our callings unique, therefore faithfulness shows up in different ways in each of our lives.

We share and talk with the Lord about all these things.

GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

Most of all we must remember that God is faithful to us. He is the model and the initiator of faithfulness.  It is by his power that we are sustained in faithfulness ourselves.

As we walk with the Lord we learn faithfulness and we are brought to expansive places where God leads and has fellowship with us:

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  1 Corinthians 1: 4-9

Blessings and God’s abundance over you this day. May you know how very much God loves you, and may you increase in faithfulness before him this day.