Why you should share your gifts with the world
What kind of birthday celebrant are you?
Are you the sort of person who:
A) Is very low-key (as in “I don't celebrate at all” or “if I do, it's just on the day?”)
B) Is more of the mindset that the whole month is your birthday?
I'm the latter, as in:
I always say “October is my birthday” even though it’s only technically today
(October 3rd, on the day of sending this email)
This whole idea of October being my birthday is not just this self-centred wish to make it all about me, though
Believe it or not…
It has always been a celebration of life and an acknowledgement that there but by the grace of God go I
Why you need BHAGs
Have you ever heard of a BHAG?
(pronounced bee-hag)
According to Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, who coined the phrase, it stands for "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal"
It can be defined as follows:
"It’s a goal that has a clear finish line so you know when you have achieved the goal. And it’s one that you have a 50 percent to 70 percent chance of achieving. It’s not something so outlandish that it’s highly unlikely that you will ever achieve it, but it’s definitely something you’ll have to stretch yourself to make happen" (Rachel Rodgers).
Although BHAGs have many benefits
Such as:
Why goals are important for PR Success
On Christmas eve I got hit by a car
Luckily I was okay and the only sign that anything even happened is this scar on my elbow
But the fact that he made enough impact to make me roll onto the hood and then onto the floor makes me truly thankful that it wasn't any worse
Because, as one of the witnesses said afterwards, I "could have ended the night on a stretcher" and- if not for God's favour and protection- who's to say whether that would have been because of a broken bone or fatality?
See, what had happened prior to that was....
2 steps to shattering self-imposed glass ceilings
We've been doing a lot of talking about purpose recently
Including why purpose is important to your PR strategy and how to do purpose-driven PR.
The reason for this is because when I reflect on the nativity story, particularly from Mary's point of view, that's the overarching theme that jumps out to me about this season
Here's why:
In giving her the gift of Jesus, God took an average little girl and gave her the opportunity to present herself in a new light by lifting the lid of her potential; endowing her with His power and giving her purpose.
But, most of all, God gave her something special to share with the rest of the world- an expression of His love.
To me, this shows us as modern women that we are also pregnant with purpose- meaning that we have something to give and contribute to the world too
However, as a person who sits at the intersection of many identities, I know how hard this can be to believe at times (if not all the time)
You are literally presented with messages built from systems that contradict and try to convince you otherwise every single day but...
Guess what?
Your ability to speak up, step out and shine as the woman that God created you to be is tied to coming out of agreement with society and accepting your divine status as "blessed among women" (Luke 1:28)
Yes you!
Simply put, you can't be a thought leader if you don't actually believe that you have ideas worth sharing...
You can't make impact if you don't believe that you have the power to...
You won't use your voice if you don't believe that it's significant...
You can't be visible if you don't feel that who and what you represent matters...
Because it's impossible to shatter glass ceilings that you continue to uphold
Ready to break them down?
Here's what you must do instead
How to be a vessel of honour
In last week’s musings, I mentioned that 2nd Timothy 2:21 calls us “vessels of honour”
Click here if you missed that post, sis!
In light of the scripture above, it's something that we just tend to throw around as believers but I really wanted to know- What does it actually mean to be a vessel?
Here’s what I discovered:
How to get your Joy Back
Chile, this week has been a lot!
Like seriously…
Recently, I talked about the fact that faith increases our capacity to succeed
Click here if you missed that, sis!
But did you know that you have other capacities too?
For example:
A) Mental capacity
The ability to make your own decisions
B) Emotional capacity
The ability to overcome limiting beliefs, your ease in adapting to challenging situations, and the quality of your relationships
C) Physical capacity
The ability to perform a variety of physical tasks
In the wake of such trying times, we run the risk of running low in one or more of these capacities
Which will then have knock-on effects on our ability to walk in purpose because…
As the saying goes, “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and this is really clearly illustrated in 2nd Kings 4:1-7
in which the woman literally took empty vessels, poured oil into them until they were full and then distributed the oil for profit.
2nd Timothy 2:21 says that we are “vessels of honour” so, like the widow did with hers, we need to make sure to fill ourselves up before we pour out to others. Here are 20 ways that I have been doing that this week:
Apart from the typical advice of praying and reading the Bible, in between, work, I have been doing one or more of the following each day:
3 disempowering life and business Beliefs
Last week, we talked about the fact that lack of faith decreases our capacity to succeed
Remember that, sis?
The most obvious way that lack of faith shows up is through unbelief or lack of faith in God
which, according to The Parable of the sower, usually happens because of “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22)
But another way that it shows up is through a lack of belief in ourselves
For example-
When the woman approached Elisha to appeal to him for (divine) help in her situation (2nd Kings 4:1-7), I don’t think that she expected to be the answer to her own question or the solution to her own problem
Why?
Because she came to him talking more about the problem than what she might have or be able to do to solve it
In fact, it was not until Elisha asked her what she had in her house, that she even took inventory of what she had at all (2nd Kings 4:1-2)
As soon as she did take stock of what she had (a jar of oil), this precipitated the action that she took to activate her miracle
i.e. borrowing vessels from her neighbours, filling them up and selling them to the point that she could pay off her debts and “live on the rest” with her sons (2nd Kings 4:3-7)
So often, as modern women, we do the same thing
Cue edge snatching moment…