Making good decisions in emotionally charged environments is very difficult. Better to stop and think first, than to rush into a commitment.
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Tag Archives: Growth
Conquer by doing good
We live in a transformed society. What once was regarded as the standard, today is questioned at every corner. Deals were sealed with a hand shake, today a contract is a must. A promise was regarded as the highest form of commitment, today proof is demanded before any agreement. We have been gradually shifting from the good life to the norm of “watch your back at every corner.” We distrust everyone and everything, from the government, financial institutions to religious organizations, even our own family. So we created the contracts. Yet we expect everyone else to trust us.
Broken promises have made our hearts hard. We are constantly shielding ourselves from hurt, from people that see us as a mere transaction. Men and women that love things and use people, when the opposite is what should be. It is hard. I know first hand the feeling of whom has gotten close, just to grasp as much as they can under the disguise of friendship. And it hurts. There is a crawling sensation of anger inside that if you are not alert, will overtake you and poison your entire being. And every new interaction is viewed with suspicion and distrust.
Being reminded by Paul in the book of Romans, “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good”, is liberating. He tells us not to “feel” our way through, but to do. It is how we become a conquerors. I heard once an illustration that I actually tried myself. If you have a glass of water that is dirty and full of contaminants, and you put in under a faucet that is flowing clean water, you will see how the clean water being poured into the glass will eventually clean out the dirty water and make the contents clean. Our lives are the same. When we do good, even when it is not recognized or even reciprocated, our glasses, our lives will be clean and fruitful. We should always look for “faucets” that will pour “clean water” into our hearts.
Being a conqueror starts by conquering yourself. If you don’t manage yourself first, your enterprises will always lack something. Managing yourself creates character and builds credibility. Credibility is the ultimate currency, when your presence alone makes everything right. Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from the history of your words and actions. Changing the tide or the norm is not easy but it is worth every effort. We will become better, once we commit to do good.
When evil lifts its voice around us with a boastful attitude, doing good represents the single most effective way to silence its noise. You can do it, I can do it. Let’s change our sphere of influence we have been given and conquer by doing good.
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
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© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2013
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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What are you waiting for?
What are you waiting for? That was basically the question Joshua made to the Israelites. They knew what they had to do and stood still, even when they were promised a better place and a bountiful land. Stillness was their answer.
Oftentimes we know exactly what we need to do and just do nothing. There are many reasons for that, but the main one is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of not having the skills, fear of fear itself. I know, I have been there myself. But when we are all by ourselves, we know what we need to do. Furthermore, we know that action is the only option to move forward, but we choose to stay put, we choose to do nothing. Probably it is because we are comfortable where we are in life right now and making a change is inconvenient. Or maybe fear has become our master. Can you imagine that? Being controlled by a thought that extrapolates and creates mental circumstances and events that in the majority of time never happen? Fear constricts perception, thinking, and motor processes, but faith and love promote action. That is why repeatedly we find God reassuring us and telling us not to fear. “Do not fear, for I am with you” and “perfect love drives out fear”.
You might have been drawn into a situation that most likely you did not create. Or be in a position today you drifted into because of your inaction. Regardless of what or why you are where you are today, you need to take action. The best way to break a series of bad decisions is to make one good one. It sounds simplistic and obvious but when you are immersed in a streak of constant inaction, thinking of making a change, even when it’s a small one, seems an unsurmountable task. One act, that is what it takes.
Here are some suggestions of how to start making changes that I found helpful.
- Rest: Yes, it sounds like an oxymoron, but when you are well rested your body and your mind are renewed, you think better you’re more productive, alert and more prone to move on.
- Eat well: Take control of your diet and make small changes everyday. Drink water before eating, it will make you feel more full and therefore consume less. Ask for help to make a balanced diet and don’t be hard on yourself.
- Exercise: Even a small walk around your neighborhood will make you feel better and alert.
- Analyze who are your influencers: “The people that you listen to, are the preview of the future you.” Jeff Henderson. When we consider the lives of those we regard and seek their advise, we should notice the result of their lives in the area we are seeking advise on. Are they modeling well? If I am asking financial advise, are they an example to follow? In relationships? In work? If not, change your sphere.
- Change what you are reading: If you only read news and are plugged to every media outlet, you will be informed but you will grow very little. Bad news always sells but never builds.
- Ask for help: If you cannot make changes on your own, seek advise of others. Look for people that have different ideas than yours and pick their minds. Sometimes one word or one phrase is all that you need to start moving.
Storms in life and menacing waters may be ahead of you, that’s life. But you are not a quitter, you are courageous and you embrace the future with hope. Every obstacle is just a building block for your character. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”, if you never quit and you take that first step, you will be on you way to your promised land.
You know what needs to be done, so what are you waiting for?
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
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© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2013
Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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It’s time to move
“…You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on.” – Deuteronomy 1:6b-7a
Change. A word many of us dread because it represents an uncomfortable state in life. It is uncomfortable because it was in one of those changing times were we made our biggest mistake. Change has become an enemy and we have bunkered into our comfortable place of “status quo,” giving fear an undeserved throne. So unknowingly we opt for change; a change of masters. Change has become so difficult for us to handle that we are paralyzed in places that by our own admission are the wrong places. But we remain there because at least we know where we are. We don’t do good with change. Yet change is constant in every one’s life, even when we don’t want to admit it.
Moses was told by God himself to move. To leave the familiar for the unfamiliar. To trade the comfortable with the uncomfortable. To change the easy for the difficult. Every stage of life has a place and people for them. When we reflect intently into our past, we see a trend of who, what, when and where, and the results of those associations. There are places and people that might be a fixture in our life, and there others that are just for a season. There are places that are to remain part of who we are, and there are other places that are just a staging positions of our lives and a springboard for the future. Moses was told this clearly: “It is time to break camp and move on.” And probably this is what you need to do today.
Moving on is fearful and exciting all at the same time. There is hope in change. A sense of better and greater things ahead, even when we have no foresight of what that might be. We press on because hope fuels us. Hope is the oxygen of humanity. The children of Israel were urged to start moving so they could start growing. The familiar was good yet the unfamiliar was best. It would be costly, but worth it. In hindsight, a tipping point in history for a nation and the world.
This might be the inflection point you were secretly hoping for. This uncomfortable, blurry and messy situation might just be the place and the moment to thrust you into a new dimension never thought possible. This change, this decision, this direction, might be the one that defines the entire ending of your story. The truth about this story is the same truth about yours and mine. Because even when we might not acknowledge it every time, God is and has been walking with us all along and will continue to do so in the midst of change. “There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place,” and this should give you and me the assurance, that even when it might not be easy, we will get to the place God has promised us.
You can decide to stay put, to remain in the mountain even longer because it is comfortable and known to you. And your life might go well. Or you can dethrone fear from your life and raise the banner of hope that is branded in your heart. You can become the catalyst that ignites a chain reaction that creates a movement, a brand, a church, a family, a new future that will be traced back to your action. Because action begets expansion.
The message is clear; it’s time to move.
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
Want this hot coffee of inspiration by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”
© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2013
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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How’s your buffer?
No, it’s not a mistake what you are seeing, I posted it for a purpose. I use a service called Buffer that basically helps me add tweets on the go, add ideas or simply share links and post them at the moment or queue them for a future date. It is very helpful, especially if you want to maintain yourself organized and at the same time not to be a social media pest. You schedule the times and frequency that your posts will appear. I usually have weeks or even months in advance of what I have to share; it’s a great app.
Recently something happened without me knowing it and it took me by surprise. I received the reminder you see above, stating in amazement “Oh no, it looks like you buffer is empty!”. This made me think quite a bit about myself and about many others like me. This was not an event that just happened. this was the outward expression of something that had been happening long time ago; my buffer was empty. Isn’t it true about me and you, that we walk through life as if we had unlimited emotional and spiritual supply that we forget to replenish ourselves? We live at times, a margin-less life. We have no buffer, we are always playing catch-up and that is a very dangerous place to be. When we run on empty all sorts of things can happen.
I realized this in a very vulnerable moment that made me realize that there was something missing in me. I expressed myself in a way that was not appropriate. After the fact, I realized that I had left my emotional supply to dry up. If we were to talk face to face, I would explain every detail and you would agree with me that I had all the right to feel the way I felt and to and say what I said. But the reality is that my buffer was empty and my reaction proved it. I am grateful for one thing I did right: I reached out and asked for advice. This was a good and made me put everything into the right perspective.
What is missing in you? Is the everyday busyness taking the best out of you? Are you walking in life feeling emotionally tired? Who are you reaching out to? Are you asking the right questions and to the right people? People that you know will say what is right, not what you want to hear. Replenish your soul, and body, so you will have enough to lean on for those vulnerable moments that will find you at some point. You owe it to yourself, and to those close to you.
So, how’s your buffer?
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
Want this inspiration of coffee by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”
© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
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Extraordinary or well?
We often puzzle ourselves with questions that we cannot answer; at least at the moment we make them. The more I make myself such questions, the more I realize that they all come down to one simple issue, purpose. So I pursue, I ask and I delve into the deepest inner makings of my being. I look around, as you might have done also, to see what others have done. My problem, and possibly yours too, is that I look to those that have excelled and have rises to the top of their fields. What I seek is that ingredient, one unspoken ingredient that it seems everyone seem to have and it eludes the rest of us.
What is it and where is it? Is it acquired or is it a gift from God? I think it is a little of both. Depending on how or where you were raised, and how that environment was rooted in you, your answer to these questions will definitely answer those questions. Got that? I know it sounds a little confusing, but bear with me for a moment. In many ways our environment somehow challenges how we perform and how we think, if we permit it. Please see that I said, “challenges”, not trump or defeat. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that you have to be born in a certain place or come from a certain family to have the ingredient that exceptional individuals have. What I am saying is that what these individuals, men and women like you and me, have achieved greatness in spite of their environment.
To acknowledge our own shortcomings, is the first step to greatness. So even when our placing is a challenge and impacts us directly in many ways, it doesn’t have to. In an overwhelming majority of the times, we have a choice, we decide how it affects us. I’m not implying that it is or will be easy, in fact I would side with you and say that it will be even more hard for you, than the average Joe. But because of that toil, that struggle and the hustle you have to go through, that ingredient will surface all that greater. Sometimes it is precisely that struggle what brings forth the best of you. It might be, that how you handle the present situation in your life, will determine how you live the rest of your life.
What is it then? Simple, you do extraordinarily, what others seem to do well. It is the intentionality of what you do that makes the difference. It is the area of your life in which you put your entire heart at work and you take off all of the stops. We cannot have the gifts of someone else, at best we do marginally ok in someone else’s field or craft. But there is one thing you do exceptionally well and when given the opportunity you perform as if you are being recharged, because you love it. Be it writing, inspiring, preaching, teaching, sports, business, leadership, fatherhood, counseling, or whatever your gift might be, get better at it every day and do it extraordinarily.
A bad environment doesn’t mean impossible. We see it all the time. The underdogs, the outliers, those that at some point and in contrast of where they lived, or what life had handed them, decided they would do extraordinarily what others seemed to do ok. It is a choice, it is not necessarily a supernatural gift nor a one of a kind talent, it is a choice you make. And when you make it, everything changes. You can live the rest of your life living with wandering eyes, or you can become the story everyone will be inspired by. So what is it going to be? Dive in and move forward.
Do extraordinarily, what others do well.
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
Want this inspiration of coffee by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”
© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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Make the dream come true
What does it take to make a dream come true? I actually googled it and got 152 million results back. By sheer numbers it appears there are a lot of dreamers out there, or at least some that are toying with an idea. You get a lot of different perspectives. Many in my opinion good, others I would say a little creative. But regardless of what point of view resonates with you, one thing is actually pretty much consistent among them: action.
Many of us are paralyzed in life because we are afraid of taking action. We are afraid of something that might not even be true. It could be fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of ridicule or even fear of fear. I know from personal experience how this feels. When the fear of the unknown outcome crawls inside of you, it takes complete control. And the dream agonizingly screams in us, desperately longing for a sliver of hope that could maintain it alive somehow. But fear has made residence in our hearts, and evicting it, is a hard task.
So how do we defeat fear? It is very interesting that when we read about three crucial moments in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the same word is used to describe the magnitude of the event preceding that victory. And each victory over the event required an important ingredient: action. The greek word is σεισμος or “seismos” which means earthquake. The impression was so big, that it could only be described with this word. This word is used when Jesus defeated sin, death and fear. It is through the strength we find in him that we are able to overcome fear, because he defeated it. The enemy of fear is action and action creates purpose and purpose creates passion, and passion knows no limits.
Many practical ideas can help you refine your dream or accelerate it. Writing it down, researching, asking a lot of questions, meditating on it or planning just to mention a few. All of them are good and you should do some or all of them. But it will be pointless without action. Action defeats fear.
You don’t need to have it all figured out, you don’t need to have all the answers to the questions. You just have do one simple thing: Take that first step. Will you fail? It is possible. Will you come out a victor? It could be. But you will never know if you don’t try. Why would you sit in the sidelines petrified when you can be in the middle having the time of your life? You don’t want to live a should’a, could’a, would’a life and die. It is better to try and fail, than not to try at all.
There are some times in life where each step you take is planned and calculated, and that is good and necessary. But there are other times in life where faith and courage are the lights that guide your way through the dark path before you. And that is all you need.
So, what does it take to make a dream come true? Which of the 152,000,000 answers is the correct one? I don’t know, but for me it’s one simple thing: That very first step. Take courage and brace yourself, the man that told the wind “cut the attitude,” is by your side. It will be the ride of your life.
Make the dream come true.
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
Want this inspiration of coffee by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”
© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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To plan or not to plan?
While running some errands, I was listening to a radio station of a religious nature. It wasn’t very appealing or interesting, but just out of curiosity I continued to listen to get a grasp of what the point would be in the message, maybe something good could come out of it. I also listened from the perspective of someone that had no knowledge of the Scriptures. After ten minutes I stopped listening, because all of his message was just filled with, and it is not intended to cause any disrespect, but it was “christian language”, and had no point at all. I mean, I know he meant well but there was no message. Someone listening for the first time and was trying to get any knowledge of who Jesus is, would have finished even more confused. But the point that struck me more than anything else was the lack of structure and therefore the lack of planning from the presenter. It was that obvious.
While I was still driving I questioned myself: Should we as disciples and followers of Jesus, make any plans or just rely on our spiritual instincts? I was thinking of the example that I had just experienced. The presenter was definitely trying to use his head knowledge but had not defined pattern of what he was presenting. Examples in the Bible started to come to me. Each and every one expresses a God that is a master planner. Planning is his specialty, to plan is not only needed but it is required. I would go further and state that it is demanded. Albert Einstein said it well, “I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice.” in other words, He does not leave anything to chance or to randomness. He’s a master planner. And you can see it in everything created.
Some think that to plan is to show lack of faith. I would say that planning is showing your faith in action. Relying on your plans alone is another issue altogether. The first one is a complete act of trust in God and the latter is a complete trust in yourself. Not planning says to the world, “everything is random there is no logic nor purpose in what I do” and I would dare to say that it is a praise to mediocrity. To plan is to walk in the nature that God himself created us to be, because we were created in his image.
The creativity and the gifts you and I have been given, are not to be taken lightly. It would be easy to just let things happen, but that would be a waste of time, and talent. But if we acknowledge that God created us for excellence, we should be the example for the world to see. In our finances, our studies, our work and our home. We should be recognized as those that plan ahead and trust in a Master Planner that shows his love and mercy. From the moment his precious creation fell, he started planing his redemption through the sacrifice of his son Jesus. What a great plan!
To plan or not to plan? That is not the question. Why would you not plan?, would be a better one.
“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”
Want this inspiration of coffee by email every morning? Enter your e-mail to subscribe at the top right of this page under the box for “Subscribe”. Like this writing and want share it? Just add your comment below on “Leave a Reply” or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or by email using any of the buttons next to “Share this:”
© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2012
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE boldly 