day 676: Pattern Recognition

"Then, as accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives."

Recently I have been presented the opportunity to do some consulting with numerous businesses. These businesses span a number of different industries. The people are different, the names of the companies are different, and what they produce is different, but at the root, they are the same. What is different about companies is the outside, but on the inside the patterns of business are the same. Businesses run on patterns that they have designed and continue to use over and over to ensure that the business runs the same way as consistently as it can. Once we can see the pattern and recognize it then we can apply the learning from other companies to their pattern. It takes time to hone the skill of pattern recognition and you have to see enough patterns to ensure that you aren't seeing something for the first time. Every now and then, we can be surprised at an innovative way of going about the conducting of business, but for the most part, the patterns are set and we can learn and build from what we have seen and know. How much time are we putting into learning and knowing the pattern of our business? It's important to know and understand if we are ever to make improvements and bring best practices into our companies. I know too many people who try and apply new ideas and concepts on top of a pattern they don't really understand and then who leave a business frustrated because their ideas wouldn't take hold.

Patterns are also important in our personal and spiritual lives. No better example of a pattern maker was there than Jesus. There are a number of places in the Gospels that we learn of His patterns. Jesus had a pattern for His life that we can follow and apply to our own lives. He was a reader of the scriptures (Luke 4:16), He had a set time each day for his prayer time (Mark 1:35) and He had a place that he went to pray, as we read, in Luke 22:39, that he regularly visited. The New Living Testament says that this was the "usual" place that He went. Let's step back and see if we can recognize a pattern and apply it to our lives? If Jesus, of all people, had a pattern, then why wouldn't we follow the same one? It's a simple pattern to recognize: Read God's Word and pray and do both of these regularly and in a pattern of when and where, so to make it a habit. It's a simple but so powerful pattern to recognize and follow and of course, apply to our own lives.

Reference: Luke 22:39 (new Living Testament)