People lived a life without money. They existed for years without money, which tells us money is an invention. Money was invented to make life easier for people to trade with one another. It was getting more inconvenient to trade with other people using livestock and perishable items. Money was a tool for people to do business. It is but a tool created and designed by God, through the wisdom He imparted among His people to establish a communal way of life.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines money as “something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment,” but it is much more than that, and several references to money throughout Scripture beg us to look at it from a number of angles.

Let’s visit a familiar verse: A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things (Ecc. 10:19). This is the same preacher who tells us in Ecclesiastes5:10, He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

King Solomon gives us conflicting views about money because people gave money some form of economic, political, social, and even spiritual power that we need to be aware of. Otherwise, it overpowers us. Money can dictate futures and open doors, but ultimately, we need to recognize that money is a human invention. It is not God. It cannot take the place of God. A huge chunk of the Holy Scriptures tells us how to view and to use the money for His glory. When we are able to develop a biblical perspective about money, we’ll be able to understand where King Solomon is coming from — money is a well; what you get out of this well depends on the heart of the person drawing from it.

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How do you see money? Check how your perspective of money correlates with your heart.

A lot of people take language as a means to describe the world that is out there—an unforetold reality of other people, of things, of the universe, and even of ourselves. We clearly say that I am this and that. It’s as though talking about ourselves as objects to be described and defined. But that doesn’t mean it’s inappropriate; it’s just one way of how we use language. Language doesn’t just have the property to describe, but as previously mentioned, language has the power to create. Through language, we create worlds into being, but not immediately as something that is real. Possibility, for example, does not originate as a reality in its beginning. Reality is something we create as real; eventually it turns into a reality.

What is out there—the reality, the conditions, and the circumstances of the future are things that are not considered facts just yet. They are still words that we include in our conversations. But, as long as that future is not yet today, we have a lot of room to alter those future circumstances. As we start a brand new conversation, of redeeming the negative words we say about our future, we begin to alter our future’s possibility.

Transformation is about inventing a future when other sees that there is no future. Life’s possibilities and actualities can change by starting to alter the words being spoken. This gives the freedom, the space to invent whatever is deemed possible. Acting and living according to the altered conversation, a group becomes inspired by supporting this newly created possibility to the point of articulating a future that even changes the way the present situation is viewed. And because people act in the way that is consistent with the future, that future is created; what was once impossible becomes possible.

Realizing that we live in the face of a possibility brings doubt and uncertainty that leaves us dreary about the future, making it overwhelming for us to look ahead—for possibility cannot be explained, fathomed, defined, or described. But as difficult as it may be for that possibility to turn out positive, it is at this stage when the same possibility leaves us that much room for us to exercise power and freedom to navigate through those unchartered territories and make it our own.

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What uncertainty do you want to overcome?

The word “integrity” came from the Latin word “integer” which means whole, complete, and not missing any component or part. If you think about a bicycle, if it is missing a wheel or its brakes, it won’t be able to function as they are intended. Any disruption in the integrity of something’s design, however small, impacts its workability and function (Spirtos, 2013).

When the wholeness or completeness of who we are as humans are jeopardized, in some way, however small, it alters our life. We may be saying to ourselves, “It’s a one-time thing” or “no one will ever know,” but these compromises are already altering the baseline of our integrity. It changes who we are. Compromise drives us farther away from the commitments we have set for ourselves.

When this happens, we spend time justifying ourselves. We might be spending time defending, explaining, or blaming others. When our integrity is off, we find ourselves tolerating a level of unworkability in our lives. Most of the time, it is gradual and it only occurs in small increments.

We never seem to fully come to grips with how much impact it has on things that are not working in our life. But somehow, we can trace the problems back to the time wherein we compromised. We can track it back to when our baseline for integrity went down to 99% from 100%. Spirtos (2013) tells us, “A baseline that was once at 100% is now 99 or 98 or 70%—and while most people don’t notice it, the difference between 99 and 100% is everything— it is in that 1% that the quality of our life alters.” The choice to uphold integrity is up to you. This matter of choice is something uniquely human.

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Rate your integrity levels for this year.

As the leaders generate those kinds of futures, it is almost always beyond what anyone can fulfill individually. This is why there is power in the group. The vision of a new possibility is fulfilled in the commitment and coordinated action of the group. Collective action is the foundation for an expanded possibility (Zaffron, 2013).

It takes courage to be a leader. It is common for a leader to face being thwarted. However, a leader takes the stand for the new future, even when it is only a possibility, not yet a reality, and even when it exists only in our language. Imagine yourself in the shoes (sandals) of these prophets. They are prophesying about a future that is described to be completely different from what the audience has experienced in the past and in their present.

The courage of these prophets to declare new possibilities is definitive of their leadership strength. With every word, there is meaning. Language gives the world its meaning. Our speaking impacts the world to match our words. The reality, conditions, and circumstances of the future do not exist in facts. Instead, they exist only as products of the conversations we are having. Language becomes a fundamental access to fulfilling what matters, what is important, and what is possible (Zaffron, 2013).

The Book of the Month Club is a powerful group that opens your mind to the strongest possibilities.  Go and join the club now!

Ask God for a vision of a new future that you can take a part of creating.

Individuals and groups, alike, experience problems. Whether you see yourself as a leader or not, you intend to address problems that come your way. We intend to change the situation into one that does not have to deal with problems. However, even as we do this, we find ourselves experiencing more of the same problems.

Once we solve a problem, another one shows up. Often times, as we try to fix problems, we do not experience expected results.  The reason why we are never problem-free is because the solutions we experienced only exist on a superficial level. There is something within us, a blind spot that is left untouched. This particular blind spot is often the perpetuator of the problem.

Zaffron and Logan (2009) tell us that for every problem, there is already a future that is already written about each of the problems we face in our subconscious. The future includes people’s assumptions, hopes, fears, resignation, cynicism, and even “lessons learned.” Even if most of us are unaware or in denial about this future, it is the context in which we try to create change for ourselves and for the groups we belong to.

When you ask a person what they really think will happen to them or to their organization, they live every moment as if it is destined to come about. One example of this is when an employee is reduced to going through the motions, never fully engaging in his company’s mission and vision, never taking on any politics that they believe is holding the company back. The context of their actions and their decisions is always based on a default future that they may or may not recognize.

The Book of the Month Club is a powerful group that opens your mind to the strongest possibilities.  Go and join the club now!

How do you see yourself rewriting the future?

Often times people displace them by engaging in things they don’t like, getting mixed up in affairs they don’t believe in, or expressing things they are not convinced of themselves. There’s no such thing as “I have no choice.” or “I’m still waiting for something better to come along.” You have the power to make changes and transform your life. As a space for transformation, you are not bound to or counting on anything else.

You are a space by which your life happens. Know that you can create space for transformation. You have the ability to go from whatever kind of life you lead today to the life that you’ve always intended.   In fact, everything in your life depends upon you. With this in mind wouldn’t it be silly to engage in things that you don’t like or torture yourself in order to make a living. Do what you are passionate about and put all your effort in that. That future is something that you deserve. Why displace yourself by engaging in actions that you don’t intend to engage in?

It just doesn’t make sense. Maybe you’ve encountered a complaint between you and a client at work. And although you see the point of the client, you bring yourself to say “Just doing my job, ma’am/sir.” That’s not how it should work. If you truly believed in the cause that you were supporting you would be able to give more evidence than simply your job description.

Do the things that you love and you will find your transformation will come naturally as you go.  The context of leadership is about making the decision to be the better you. You are a space by which your life unfolds. You are the one that sets the condition for change in your own life. Accommodate others in your model of a better life. Set your eyes towards a way of living that benefits everyone.  Transformation isn’t about getting ahead of others or doing better than others. It is about surpassing you and inspiring others. Contribute to the world with the use of your talents and encourage others to be open to their own transformation.

The Book of the Month Club is a powerful group that opens your mind to the strongest possibilities.  Go and join the club now!

Have you set the intention to contribute to the world?