A Life Giving Moment: Commitment Births Changes Different Year-Different Choices Series Pt. 21/6/2014 You are only as strong as your commitment. Partial fulfillment of assignments, tasks, ideas, and interpersonal covenants weaken you. When you offer a small percentage of your presence and a shallow portion of your power, you weaken everyone exposed to your lack of commitment.
Every person and everything to which you are committed deserve your best. Do not offer anyone or anything a remnant of your presence and power. Commit to showing up fully without distractions in all of your encounters and assignments. It is important to create realistic expectations of yourself. When you find that you are overextended, renegotiate your expectations and commitments. Perhaps you need to solidify your daily non-negotiable activities and plan accordingly. Perhaps you need to say, “No, I am not available” more often. The qualitative difference between 2014 and years past is not reduced to an increase in the number of people who surround you or the number of ideas completed on your to-do list. The difference is in how well you treat the people surrounding you and the energy attached to the ideas that you offer. WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace
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The newness of everything wears off eventually. This reality is often set aside in favor of emotional euphoria especially when the clock strikes 11:59 pm on December 31st. We celebrate the transition of night into a new day despite the persistent darkness. Although daybreak does not greet us immediately, we rejoice.
The qualitative difference between years past and what you hope to experience in 2014 rests largely in your own hands. Do not be dismayed if certain troubles are unresolved. Remember the loud, vivid, and colorful celebratory sounds emitted at the darkest hour in Times Square and other areas around the globe at midnight on January 1, 2014. Allow the pause between a new day and a new dawn to set you in motion. A shift in timing signifies a new day not the rising of the sun. Sojourner, even if life appears a bit dark and gloomy and lacks the changes you desire, rest assured that the sun does rise…eventually! Honor these unlived days, weeks, months, and moments. These unborn miracles are not marred by your past—this is a different year completely. The difference in this year will not happen upon us because we resolved to make changes. We must co-create the changes we want to see actualized in the world. We must choose to be different. We must, in all our ways, dare to make choices that honor humankind and all of creation. We must do the work. A different year requires different choices, different behaviors, different approaches and perspectives. Non-negotiable commitments are necessary so that you, others, and those not yet born may come forth whole, nothing missing, and nothing broken. As the emotional tidal wave crests and the New Year enthusiasm retreats back into the ocean of possibilities, focus Sojourner-FOCUS! Cheers to you and the difference your commitment and discipline will make!!! #WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace After the soil is prepped, the seeds are planted, and the grounds are tilled, the farmer waits. While waiting, the planter expects the process to produce healthy crops. Most variables are beyond the cultivators control; nonetheless, she attends to the grounds faithfully. She demonstrates unwavering trust and undeniable belief in the entire process of sowing and reaping. She knows that she knows that she knows although the seeds lay in silence for a season without any evidence of viability, The Universe and Mother Earth are faithful—seeds do grow!
A variety of seeds were offered via the A Life Giving Moment journey. Many of us wrestled consistently each week and implemented necessary breaks away to ensure that transformation took root within our Souls. As 2013 nears an end, allotting time and space for silence is the final Life Giving Moment for this year. I encourage you to revisit posts that upon reading caused you to feel uneasy and unsettled. Go back to every series you avoided the first time and invite the words to reveal their purpose for your life. And most importantly, use this time to seek out The Source for those instructions only Spirit can tailor just for you. I look forward to journeying with you again via this forum starting January 1, 2014! I go now to complete other works assigned to my hands. In the coming weeks, you will receive updates and details about how to purchase several products including my first stage production “Naked without Shame: A One Wom[b]an Show” on DVD. You will be able to share with others all of the Life Giving Moments because the series will debut as my first book followed by my second book, You Are God’s Dream. All of these initiatives are made possible through my company DreamSeeds Group (more on that later). You will also receive information regarding Life Giving Events that I will host in 2014 as a part of A Life Giving Movement (whew…now you know why silence is so necessary LOL). I am who I am because you and I sojourn together. Now, go boldly with reckless abandon in pursuit of your dreams!!! WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace, Rev. Kanisha L. Billingsley Sojourners we are 27 days away from the possibility of a new year. There is still plenty of time to start and even complete tasks. Keep tilling the grounds of your dreams. Continue to sow seeds in the sod for the livelihood of your Soul's intent. We do not know and nor can we determine all the variables associated with growing and becoming but of this I am convinced: SEEDS DO GROW!!!!
#WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace "I searched all over/couldn't find nobody/looked high and low/still couldn't find no body/nobody greater/nobody greater/nobody greater than you..."
VaShawn Mitchell sings these lyrics as an affirmation of God's goodness. Take a leap with me and consider the possibility of Spirit singing these lyrics about you to you. Sojourner, accepting this truth will propel you forward beyond any and all obstructions: there is no one born or to come who can do the work you are purposed to do. No one is greater than you! There is no one born or to come who can provide the life, light, and love that you are intended to provide. No one is greater than you! There is no one born or to come who is capable of completing your idea, fulfilling your dream, and birthing your best. There is nobody greater than you! Only you are equipped to do your work. Now go forth in liberation and in full pursuit! #WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace VaShawn Mitchell: Nobody Greater http://youtu.be/lB6I-T3U3Hs What you see is not necessarily all that you will get. Sojourners, unlike a printed contract, the clauses and small print requirements of our collective and individual destiny are not readily available when you sign on the dotted surrender line. If you knew all of the resistance and turmoil you would experience, you might hesitate to take the initial risk. If you knew all of the rewards waiting for you, you may try to rush the process so that you can get to the “good stuff.”
Believing beyond your sight requires a level of commitment that is not contingent upon success and not diminished by failures. This way of believing is rooted and grounded in an unwavering allegiance to authenticity and sustained growth. Toss out the binoculars, step down off the ladder, and stop bothering other folk to spill the proverbial “did you make it over there” beans. Your journey is your own. No one will encounter the path exactly as you encounter it. Your experience is universal yet particular at the same time. Choose to believe beyond your sight and trust that all that you will ever need is living within you! WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace In every journal that I own, there are pages filled with dreams and ideas. Alongside each dream is an age that indicates when I want to accomplish each goal. For example, beside PhD is the age 30. I am 30 right now and I am not enrolled in a doctoral program.
Writing your vision for your life brings clarity. Choosing to be specific about what you want to accomplish is the only way to give birth to all of your intentions. However, do not grip your original timeframes. Your life is not happening in a vacuum. There are variables you cannot consider until they happen. There are situations you cannot plan for until you are in the midst of it all. Do not freak out! Your goals, regardless of your age and original time stipulation, are still possible. Sojourner, this life is a process that includes unpredictable and unforeseeable challenges. Honor your Soul by granting yourself permission to pursue your dreams without the pressure of finality. Accept fluidity as an essential dimension of growth and development. This conscious choice liberates you to live abundantly as you seek to fulfill your own words concerning you. #WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace Brace yourself for the sounds you are about to produce. Say this with me as loudly as you can, “I AM GOING TO FAIL!” say it one more time “I AM GOING TO FAIL!” Now sit with this confession. You will fail many times. There are ideas you will seek to birth and they will dissolve right before your eyes. Sojourner, accept today that failing does not make you a failure. Acknowledge that you were not intended to be perfect and embrace the process of becoming which includes failing.
When things do not work out according to your original plans, stay present and remain persistent because what dissolved before your eyes can morph into what is necessary for you and the broader community. As an undergraduate nearing the end of my college journey, I enrolled in a pottery class. In the corner of the classroom, there was a heap of discarded clay pieces. Some of the pieces were whole, others shattered, and others chipped. Every so often our teacher would go over to the heap of forgotten dreams, pull out a piece, and use it to sculpt something new on the wheel. The shards of broken hopes were used to trim away excess clay. The pieces left behind were used as inspiration and co-creators of some of the most beautiful vases I have ever seen. Whatever is not working now is a seed for what will surely come later. Failure is not an impeachment of your genius. Failure is an invitation to go deeper, think broader, and work harder. Now say this with me even louder: “I succeed even though an idea fails to unfold how I thought it would!” One more time: “I succeed even though an idea fails to unfold how I thought it would!” WithLove-InPeace-ThroughGrace Your vision and dreams require abilities and gifts that you do not embody. There are tasks that you cannot complete. Do not abandon your goals because of what you can’t do. Believe beyond I can’t and focus on all that you can do. Look for the gifts, abilities, and resources that you lack in the people around you. Believe beyond I can’t and know that with the assistance of others you should, you will, and you can!
Say it with me: “I should. I will. I can.” now go forth and create so that you can proclaim “I Did!!!” For everything that you cannot do because you lack the knowledge and the skill set there are millions of folk who can complete the task. Do not allow perceived limitations to stop your dreams. Make yourself available to receive assistance. The dream is not ever relegated to one Soul or one Mind or one Heart. The dream is for all of humankind; therefore, the birthing of your ideas and visions will require many hands. Every resource you need will become available as you initiate each step of the creation process.
Believe beyond your limitations. Sojourner, no one person knows everything. Seek out the people you need and make yourself available to receive help. |
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May 2015
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