day 1032: Wait On It....

"Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains."

 How often are we willing to be patient and just be content to wait?  Not often, I know.  I had coffee last week with the CEO of a pharmaceutical company and he was sharing with me the business cycle of an industry where "hurry up and wait" is part of the business.  It was fascinating to hear him describe the process to get a drug or treatment to market. A drug-trial might well take a decade of research, development and testing only to find that some part of the trial doesn't pass the F.D.A. or a problem arises.  Even when this is the accepted pattern  that everyone expects, it can still be frustrating.  Biotech and Pharma are not alone.  It can take any one of our products, services or offerings a long time to come to market.  The question we must ask ourselves, is how do we handle this time of waiting?  We can take the path of frustration, or we can, like the CEO I met, use that time to focus down even more on the next project or to hone the launch steps that are universal to any product to be taken to market. Waiting doesn't have to be like the days when we watched fathers sit anxiously in maternity wards twiddling their thumbs and reaching heights of anxiety.  We can turn waiting time that is given to us by a boss, a customer, a regulator, a lender, an investor, or an employee into times of great productivity and anticipation. Is there something in your business today that needs to be waited on and you can flip the table to the positive?

James reminds us of the waiting we all must do until our Lord returns to get us.  There is no more positive and exciting waiting than for Him. Jesus uses the parable of the harvest many times in His teachings.  The harvest cannot be hurried and if it is, then the fruit or the vegetables come without taste or full growth.  Our lives are a time of waiting on the Kingdom of God and we must show the godly virtue of patience and understanding, always looking for the best and anticipating His return. Let's wait together for His full glory to arrive, but in the meantime, let's use every hour we have to increase and further those who will receive Him when he does return.

Reference:  James 5:7 (New International Version) 

day 689: Acceptance: Part 4 - Fertile Ground

"The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God's message and produce a huge harvest - thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as has been planted."

If we can remove the acceptance problems of our cultures so that new talent can come into the organization and quickly take hold and establish deep roots, unencumbered by others, then we will be building companies that can continuously grow and scale. This becomes a significant competitive advantage over the other organizations who are after the same talent. Especially in this day and age, talent is evaluating closely the cultures of new companies. They are using great online tools and resources to be able to look inside a company culture before they decide where to take the next job. (I am on the Board of Directors of one of these companies; http://glassdoor.com and I highly recommend that anyone who is considering, or for sure, before interviewing with the company, check out Glassdoor.com) Companies that get past their acceptance problems (as read about in Part 1-3 of this series) will find themselves getting better talent and multiplying their effectiveness, many times over.

Jesus' promise to us about what our lives can be like if we just accept Him and His message and allow ourselves to be fertile ground is in itself reason enough to get rid of our own acceptance problems. Our personal harvest can be abundant. Why would we wait another day to turn ourselves over to Him and let Him be the farmer of our lives? He not only wants to plant Himself deeply within us, but then wants to nourish, feed and see us grow. What farmer plants a field to get anything less than a bountiful harvest? It doesn't come over night, but the harvest season is always so fulfilling and rewarding. Let's today let God's seeds take hold and let us accept all that He wants for us and our lives.


Reference: Matthew 13: 1-23 (New Living Testament)

day 434: Hot Days

With the summer solstice having brought in the summer months we can all get ready for the hot days that will follow. The hot days outside and the hot days inside. Yes, there will be hot days inside our office and it won't just be the weather that makes the difference. There is always another "hot" topic or "hot" issue that must be addressed and when these come and especially when they come day after day, week after week, it can wear us down and like the oppression of heat and humidity outside, we thirst and we search for shade and relief. But that is hard to find when the deadlines are looming and the heat has been turned up by the boss or the bosses' boss. This is the time when perseverance and commitment shows up, or doesn't. As a person who uses long distance running for my exercise I remember hearing the great running philosopher George Sheehan write that running in the heat builds commitment. I hear that in my head on every long run when the sun is beating down on me. Just like in the long run, when the heat is turned up at work we have to find that commitment down deep inside of ourselves to carry on and carry on in the way that others never really see us sweat. God gives us His promise that we can do so if we are doing the right things and doing our work in the way we should. In Galatians we read; "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." Even though those "hot days" will be upon us, if we are doing what is good and doing our best to bring the glory of God through our work, there is the blessing and the refreshment of the harvest waiting for us, and a much cooler season coming soon.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Testament)

day 220: The Third Quarter

We are crossing into the last month of the third quarter. The third quarter usually brings lots of activity as it is traditionally a time of financial planning for the coming year and a time of readying for the holiday season. Many businesses depend on the sales activity in the fourth quarter; from Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) through year-end), to make their financial targets. So, it is now in Q3, as the summer days get shorter and the feel of fall in the air starts to sneak back to us. We are coming off of vacation and diving back into work. Those who work in the agricultural industry know this feeling better than anyone. They are readying for the harvest so their Q3 is always a busy time and most important. In these busy, stressful and sometimes draining days, it can be hard to stay focused on our true purpose of work and we can allow ourselves to get overwhelmed and stressed to a point that we can't find time for anything else other than work. Our relationships suffer, our physical conditioning suffers and our spiritual readiness suffers. It is in these times that we must re-center and ensure that we are not losing ground but instead are leaning into keeping ourselves "fit" for the coming harvest. God is all-knowing about how our job load ebbs and flows. In Matthew Jesus says to His Disciples; "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields". Of course Jesus is speaking of the harvesting of those who are ripe to give their lives to Him, but I think He also was speaking to each of us who are in our jobs but also trying to bring glory to God through our work and actions on the job. It may be that you feel alone in your work as it relates to bringing your purpose to your job. Or it may be that it just feels too hard to try and live for God on the job. It may be that today you are so overwhelmed that it's just hard to get centered or focused and you can feel yourself drifting under the burden of your workload. Today is the day to re-read Matthew 9:37-38 and listen to what Jesus is telling us to do; "...ask him to send out more workers for his fields". If you are working to bring glory to God through the job you do and others can see the reflection of God in you while you work, then you are working in His fields and He will bring more to you in your work. He never leaves us alone and certainly not in the busy time of harvest will he ever abandon us. So, Q3 is a great time of the year to lean on God for even more for His love, grace, support and peace. Now is also the time to reestablish the prayer time and the Bible study time that may have been lost because of the busyness of work and life. If you restart now, you are readying yourself for the tremendous harvest that is coming!

Reference: Matthew 9:37-38 (New Living Testament)