Action Speaks

1/4/16-Action Speaks

Several years ago I was at a graduation party where I had 2 separate individuals ask me the same question..."how do you get your kids to volunteer so much." I was a bit puzzled, because I thought the answer was obvious..."because we do." Both parties sighed and in that moment I believed they realized our actions speak louder than our words...and their actions were a big piece in why volunteering wasn't a part of their kids lives.

What are your actions speaking to the world around you?

Do your actions speak humility or arrogance? Appreciation or entitlement? Thankfulness or dissatisfaction?

I realize my actions don't always speak what I would like them too; however, if I rise each morning doing my best I would expect more often than not my actions would speak volumes of good things!

Begin with action and leave good intentions behind...after all good intentions never changed anybody's world.

"Entitlement will disappear and be replaced with compassion when we choose to serve the world around us." DMM

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. " 1 Peter 3:8

Opinions

1/3/16-Opinions

My opinion is just that...an opinion. When I give my opinion my words are truly meant to benefit the one I'm speaking to...but my opinion may in fact not benefit the recipient.

I heard this phrase many years ago and LOVE it...'your opinion and the truth are not necessarily the same thing.' Now that is TRUTH!

Another life lesson I have learned over the years is this...I have an opinion, it's mine, and in most cases others really aren't interested in hearing it. Of course, I wish I would have learned that decades ago!

I have now come to say this phrase quite often. "I have an opinion on this (situation/topic/issue), if you want to hear it let me know."

When I say that phrase to my kids...RARELY do they want to know my opinion...friends and family...sometimes:)

We need to remember that an opinion is usually based on feelings and our perception of facts...so there is ABSOLUTELY no guarantee that my opinion will add value...because my perception could be skewed and feelings LIE!

So, I will continue my best to keep my opinions to myself in conversations; however, as far as this blog is concerned...it is free game for my OPINIONS!

You have been warned:)

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Matthew 15:11

Measuring Up

1/2/2016-Measuring Up

What measuring stick do you use to validate your worth? Is it the measuring stick your spouse holds?? Or is it the one that your children wave about? Do you strive to measure up based on the measuring stick your friend's are holding or perhaps the one that those you admire carry with them?

I find the more we try to ‘measure up’ the more we end up being torn down. The more value we put in what others think causes us to shrink.

Is that what our society has become? A bunch of fragmented people trying to measure up on others yard sticks? Why do we so desperately want to be valued by what others deem valuable? We’ve become a world striving to become what we aren’t and as a result never becoming who we were created to be.

If you are so busy trying to measure up to your neighbor’s view of value will you ever find joy in the value you offer?

My desire for 2016 is that people would stop looking at the outside world to find their place and would begin to search within themselves. God has given each person unique gifts and talents and we need to start focusing on those.

There is a phrase I have heard that I think will help us understand…”If a fish spent its whole life striving to walk it would die believing it was a failure.” Stop striving to be something you’re not…start striving to be everything you are. You are valuable because God put breath into your lungs…you are significant because there is truly NONE like you.

Throw away the measuring sticks of the past and start this new year out by valuing who you are…God created you with purpose and passion…begin living that out!

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well”.   Psalm 139: 13-14

Excellence > Perfection

1/1/2016 – Excellence>Perfection

Today you will find many blogs kicking off the New Year with a well polished article that for some has been a labor of love for months. Heads up…that is not me!

I don’t want to be a person of perfection; I want to be a Person of Excellence. Perfection cripples while Excellence empowers!

I have come to the conclusion in my 48 years of life on this earth that the human race is not polished and when we try to present ourselves as polished and perfect we rob ourselves of the authentic us and we mislead people and cause them to want to ‘measure up’ to our façade of perfection.

I say NO MORE to that!

Hi! My name is Dawn Mahoney…I am flawed, imperfect and unpolished and I want the world to know it’s okay to be that way. Embrace your imperfections, embrace your flaws – chances are the things you think are flawed are the very things that inspire others.

Be the Best you!

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

2016: The Year of LOVE

12/30/15

Do you ever find that sometimes the hardest commitments to keep are to yourself? For me I seem to follow through on all the commitments I make to others, but then fall short on the commitments I make to myself…honestly, that’s just sad. Or worse yet…I seem to fall short on the commitments I make to God. I am very thankful for His mercy and grace that covers my shortcomings!

God had impressed upon me this Fall that 2016 is The Year of Love. You may ask what that looks like…it’s rather simple; show love to everyone you come in contact with. In many cases love could be merely eye contact and a smile. It may be picking up something that a person dropped or helping someone put their groceries in the car when it’s raining outside. It may be sitting with a friend in the emergency room when their family is out of town or shoveling the neighbor’s driveway. It may be playing a game with your kids or paying for someone’s coffee. Love can be shown in so many ways…and I believe we all do it multiple times a day…however, I believe God wants us to be more aware of it in 2016 and do our best to show it to strangers as much as we show it to loved ones.

One way I show love is by spreading encouragement & hope through the You Are Campaign. It’s simple, it’s easy to do and it lets people know they are SIGNIFICANT. If you’d like to join the You Are Campaign you can order cards on this site. If you would like to experience the Power of the You Are Campaign you can text your name and mailing address to 952-237-8289 and I will send you a card.

Let us all choose to show more love and compassion in 2016 and watch how God uses that to touch people around the world.

You are SIGNIFICANT and you have a PURPOSE. I believe in the BEAUTY that is within your heart and I TRUST God is going to let that BEAUTY shine in profound ways in 2016!

“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

A Life of Purpose

What does your voice say about you? How loud are you when you're silent? I believe my voice can only do two things...it can either lift up or tear down...& its done plenty of both over my life. I am hopeful that the last decade or two my voice has done more healing than harming.

What is our legacy to the world? What really matters?  What is the purpose planted in our heart? Why does it seem most search a lifetime for purpose and many never truly find it?

What is my purpose for being? What is the value I add? I imagine those are questions many have asked...I think I can help direct you to where you need to be.

What energizes you? What can you do over and over and over and not get bored or burdened with? What do you love? Answering those 3 questions is a great start to understanding your purpose.

Know that living out your purpose isn't your job or occupation...your purpose involves your impact upon the world around you...that's right! Your purpose involves people...your purpose does not involve things. You may doubt that statement thinking well, Alexander Graham Bell developed the phone and that's a 'thing'. I would argue that the telephone wasn't his purpose, his purpose was to connect PEOPLE like they've never been connected before. The phone was DEFINITELY part of the plan, but far from his PURPOSE.

We need to get our eyes off of things to understand our ultimate purpose is people...what gifts and talents has God given us to touch people? To benefit people? To inspire people?

So my belief is that EVERYONE'S purpose is to impact people...how we each do that is dramatically different; however, that is our purpose.

Question: What's my purpose
Answer: Impact people

Isn't it FABULOUS that you now know your purpose!? Next step...figuring out what that looks like for you:)

A WORK IN PROGRESS

Work In PROGRESS!!

For most of my life I have been a person who would want things completed before I started them. You may be thinking…That’s not even possible…oh, but it is…let me explain.

I would get everything done before I would show the world what I was doing. It was easy for me to make everything look good ‘behind the scenes’…and then voila…perfection in the presentation. I would have to say this quality has been more of a hindrance in my life than a strength. Many times I would choose not to ever let my ‘projects’ be seen because to me they weren’t complete yet…that may be the reason I have struggled with starting things and never truly finishing them.

Well…today for the first time in my life I am choosing to embrace that I am a “WORK IN PROGRESS”…that being said…a work in progress can let the world see imperfection along the journey, a work in progress understands there will be set backs and detours, but that forward motion still happens. As a work in progress I am becoming okay with letting the world see my struggles as I navigate the journey the Lord has called me to. I hope by being more vulnerable and authentic in my journey…it will give permission to others to do the same.

We are all WORKS IN PROGRESS…and that’s okay!

My biggest challenge currently is the web site for therevolutionpaper.com. I had everything set up on one site and was ‘comfortable’ with it…then a friend said I really needed a site where I could easily do commerce (aka sell things)…so, she was SO KIND to get things set up for me and spent many hours doing it…I am thankful:) However, I now have many ‘to do’ items to add to the site...and honestly, it is not my gifting – so I have been dragging my feet. I didn’t want people going to a site that wasn’t ‘complete’...and in all honesty is anything in life ever really complete…I think it is all a work in progress!!

So, I am humbly coming out to the world as a….WORK IN PROGRESS!!! I am not always shiny and polished and well spoken. I am not always put together and knowledgeable, and I am definitely NOT complete!!! I am a WORK IN PROGRESS, please join me on this journey …embrace where you have come from and embrace where the good Lord is leading you…along the journey of progress we all can experience life. It’s about being okay with the authentic you and being okay with the world seeing you in PROGRESS.

Stop back at therevolutionpaper.com weekly. I will be 'progressing' as time goes. I will be adding things and getting the 'buy' tab up and running. I will be writing randomly with some topics being short and some long, some a paragraph and others a series. I am being open to whatever thoughts pop into my head and I am trusting God to write those things through me where they can be understood…and even if they’re not understood that’s okay…after all, I am a work in progress!

Sometimes OBEDIENCE looks like this...

What does obedience look like to you??

One of my desires for several years has been to be obedient to the things the Lord asks me to do immediately vs delaying.

The Lord use to have to prepare me to be obedient…He would start dropping thoughts into my spirit a year or 2 ahead of when He actually needed me to act on them. How sad is that?!? (and truth be told, I didn't always act)Then my time frame started to get shorter…it would take me 6 months to act on things the Lord was instructing me to do. He knew I’d take this long so He worked with me…Thank You Jesus for that!!

Over the past year, by the grace of God, I have gotten SO much closer to immediate obedience in many areas…not all…but many.

…and now again I find myself in a place of obedient action! Most often I don’t realize the significance or impact of what I’m to do, but I know there is definitely significance to it…if there wasn’t, The Lord would not give me the action item!

My most recent instructions came this past Sunday (6/28/15) during worship at church. In a vision I saw, what appeared to be paper airplanes with words written on them flying from Minnesota to every state of the USA. After I saw that a thought dropped into my spirit…”Send a ‘You Are’ card to the governor of each state.”

(For those of you not familiar with the You Are Campaign…it is a campaign of encouragement through the written word. You can read more about it on the “You Are Campaign” Tab)

The cards are ready to go! They are addressed, stamped and have been prayed over! I am believing that God will bless each person that touches and reads these cards as they go on their journey to each governor.

One person by themselves has a challenging time making a difference; however, one person partnered with the Holy Spirit can be a BIG piece in changing the culture of our world!

Take time to partner with The Holy Spirit…it will change your life!

God has given use the ability to be light in darkness…what is your purpose and where do you let that light shine?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5 (NIV)

If you feel led to lift up our nations Governors click the link below for the list of United States Governors...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors

A Letter to You

A Letter to YOU!

This is a letter to you from whoever you need it to be from. It could be from your mom or dad, a grandparent, brother, sister, aunt or uncle. Maybe a friend, co-worker, cousin or neighbor. Perhaps from your priest, pastor or rabbi. Or from your spouse or girlfriend or boyfriend. Maybe a stranger and yes, maybe even God Himself.

The Holy Spirit had been speaking to me for sometime about writing a letter to everyone. I was a bit puzzled as to the why, but as with many things the Lord asks me to do…I seldom know the why at the time.

Normally I don’t ask for people to pass on the things I put out there, but for some reason I believe this letter needs to reach many people. Please pass it on. Thank You!

I am going to let The Holy Spirit take over my fingers and we will all see what He has for us to hear…This letter is for you.

June 2, 2015 @ 4:44pm

Dear You~

I wanted you to know that I don’t always voice what I see or hear. I don’t always show my appreciation, affection or approval. Sometimes I just figure it’s not important or not needed; however, recently I have found out you didn’t know what I’ve seen in you. So, I no longer want that to be a mystery to your heart. I want to put in writing exactly what I want you to hear. That way there will never be any wondering or any doubt.

I have seen you much of your life. I saw the joy you experienced in moments of your childhood and I saw the great pain you endured as a small child when you thought you disappointed the people you loved most. Know that in those years you were a complete joy to those that truly knew you. Like me…I saw the beauty of your inside and the magnificence of your outside. I knew you would be significant in this world as you grew older. I knew you had so many gifts and talents that you alone could change so many lives for the better. It has recently come to my attention that you have not seen in you what I see. 

You have a kind heart that is sometimes afraid of being seen because you don’t want to seem weak. Know that the kindest hearts emulate the strongest spirits. You are intelligent beyond what you can comprehend. God planted in you exactly the mix of wisdom and knowledge you need to fulfill your purpose on this earth. Know that you truly are smart enough to live an amazing life.

I have seen you step in and help young kids and the elderly. I have seen you reach the toy that was out of grasp of the toddler and I have seen you hold a frightened pet so a child could pet it with ease. I have seen you play with the neighbor kids and their friends that made them feel so important and I have seen you roaring in laughter at the stories from those many generations older than you.

You have a gift of bringing joy. You have a compassionate heart that loves so much sometimes it hurts. You can be very hard on yourself trying to please everyone around you. I want you to know that no matter what you have done in life to this point and no matter what you will do in the future I see the good that is in you. You do not need to strive to please those around you. You simply bless those around you just by being you.

I have seen you when you have walked in dark places and felt you weren’t worth any good to any one…I saw you fight your way out of those places. Sometimes it went quickly and sometimes it took time. I have only heard the good about you from people that know you. They say you would give the shirt off your back to help a stranger and that you would bend over backwards to help those you care for most.

I want you to know that as you go through the rest of your life I know you are going to impact each person you come in contact with. You are going to do great things that will literally cause those around you to want to be the best versions of themselves.

I know that some days will be very challenging and some days you won’t want to get out of bed…and you know what?? That’s okay. Sometimes it’s okay not to be okay. Don’t beat yourself up about the shortcomings that life throws your way. It happens to everyone at different times and at different levels.

I want you to know that I am a silent cheerleader in your corner. You may not always see or hear me, but I am there. I am the one that saw you crying at the stop light and said a prayer for you. I’m the one that heard about situations you have faced and called out to God on your behalf. I’m the one that wants you to know you are so incredibly wonderful and I don’t ever want you to forget that. I want you to know I will never give up on you when you feel you have failed and I will love you no matter how unlovable you feel you are.

You are an important peace to many others miracles. You may not see it at this moment, but you are. My hopes are that this letter to you is a piece of your journey that you will always remember and that I get to be a piece of helping you know your value to keep pursuing and being the best version of you!

Sincerely,

Whoever You Need Me to Be

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Let's Get Real!

I haven’t written on here for quite some time. This is what was on my heart today. Enjoy:)

“Imperfect vessels putting up canvas over our lives to make the viewing audience think we live in an unending perfection of beauty” DMM…this is the way I think most of us live our lives.

Each person you pass has a story of victory and defeat. In most cases they are walking out one or both of those at that very moment. Each day brings with it varying degrees of the mountain top and the valley. You may be experiencing mountain top victories in your relationships, finances and health; however, be in the pit of the valley in your self-esteem. No person has victory in everything nor do they have defeat in everything at the same time.

I think in many cases we paint our victories on the canvas of our life and we proudly display those like a gallery of fine art. We are not so proud of our defeats…however, those are equally painted on canvases…most times those dark places try to be hidden or forgotten. We take those valleys and paint over them our mountain top victories. Know that there is no victory that can remove the pain of the defeat. Worse yet, when we try to mask our lows with our highs we cannot ever be truly whole.

With the age of social media we seem to canvas the airwaves with our victories, our good looking angled photos and our smiles….and when someone canvases the airwaves with their “agonies” we tend to judge them for putting negative things out there.

Let’s get real…we aren’t always happy and we aren’t always sad. We have ups and downs and many varying degrees of ‘in betweens’. I for one am overall positive and attempt to see the good in the bad, the silver lining in the storm and have the belief that no bad thing will remain and there is good coming. I truly am an optimist…however, even as an optimist I experience hurt, I experience disappointment, I experience defeat; just like every other person out there. The only difference is in how we face it.

The older I get the more I am done with the fake. Why do we do that?? I understand we don’t need to share everything with everyone, but why be fake with the people that care the most? Why put on an act?

It’s okay to be real, it’s okay to make changes, it’s okay to let go of old dreams and embrace new ones. Seasons come and seasons go…just like passions and dreams. It’s okay to let go of some old things to embrace some new things. Here’s a little example…I have been very active in my church for over 18 years. I have volunteered in MANY areas over that time, but only for seasons. Some of those seasons I chose to leave and some of those seasons God moved me. Sometimes he gave me grace to persist and sometimes He removed that grace. Sometimes I was filling a need and sometimes I was passionate about the ministry I was serving in. Filling a need is fine, but don’t let that take you away from fulfilling your passion…and be okay with your passions changing.

If you will, picture this…an old time chalkboard with a list of all the things you are involved in and all the things you need to do on a day by day basis. Do you see it? Okay, now erase the whole thing, that’s right…ERASE IT! Breath...now re-write. This time remove the clutter and filler things and only put down the things that matter, the important, the things that are necessary and the things you love. For me…I don’t love laundry, but it is necessary…you get the idea:)

I want people (myself included) to wake up tomorrow and be refreshed. Embrace those gifts and talents that energize you! Choose to walk away from the unnecessary and unimportant things. To change our thinking from…”How will I” to “How will God”…that alone should remove much unneeded burden.

What’s your destiny? What energizes you? What fills your heart to overflowing and what makes you smile? Fill your days with those things. We are all given gifts and talents and we all have a destiny to fulfill…let’s start focusing on that instead of spending our time being bombarded with the latest “awful” from Hollywood or the latest “gossip” from the neighborhood.

Let’s help each other be real and authentic. Let’s stop the fluff! Let’s stop painting pictures that aren’t real and start being authentic and true. The place to start? …with you! We first have to be real and authentic with ourselves before we can be real and authentic with others. In becoming real and authentic most of us will have to deal with things we have buried for a long time…that’s not fun, but once we face our defeats we can truly live a life of victory…even when we lose!

Let's GET REAL...LIVE LIFE...and make an IMPACT! We CAN DO THIS!!!