Hello,
Dr. Therman Evans – describes being available as 3 pronged. All three of these have to be in place for you to be truly available – to your loved ones, your workplace, your education process, your ministry, your church or place of worship…
Here’s how you know if you are available:
- Are you physically present – where physical presence is necessary ( granted, so much is done online these days…)
- Are you reachable?
- Are you usable?
The easiest part is being physically present….easiest in the sense that the least amount of work is involved. Just showing up – although a huge and essential aspect of availability – does not guarantee commitment and involvement with the work at hand.
But showing up is necessary.
Once present, are you then reachable? Are you receptive to the message, the leadership, the process, the work at hand? Is your heart and mind open to what’s in front of you? As you lead or participate with your family, your ministry or your staff or even your circle of friends, are you approachable and reachable?
Now beyond presence and reach…are you usable? To be use- ABLE, one must willingly participate in the process and have a strong desire to put their skills and talents to use. Often people have great skills, gifts and talents but they are not usable because they may be covered up, under years of issues, unresolved baggage and perhaps even a serious lack of nurturing.
Dr. Evans likened this blockage – God given talents and gifts not being put to use – to the gift-wrapping process. We receive many gifts, but unless they are UN-wrapped, they will not be put to use. Many of us walk around with unwrapped gifts, talents and skills remaining pretty much unavailable as wrapped gifts are simply not usable.
We are all here to help unwrap each other. All relationships require unwrapped participants. All our interactions and involvements are uniquely designed to pull our wrappings off.
The thing is, are you helping or hurting this process of unwrapping? Are you holding tight to your box and ribbons? Dr. Evans calls these “ribbons of restraint.”
So how available are you? On a scale of 1 – 10, give yourself a score for each of these three criteria.
Then consider what you can do to improve those scores.
Being available in everything you take on is necessary if you hope to achieve the highest levels of success. If you’re not available – truly – then consider, becoming available or dropping the activity.
In creating habits that help the world – by first helping yourself, total availability to the process is essential. You must show up each day and practice the habit, have your mind and heart open to the benefits of this habit and finally you must provide willing support and welcome that new habit into all areas of your life.
Again, assess your availability and make adjustments where needed. This can be the exercise that reveals your unused gifts and talents. What a waste it would be to keep those wrapped and hidden from the world!
Wishing you an abundance of joy and light,
♥~