day 1348: Closer Than It Seems

"When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied."

Success and failure share a trait; they both, like the images in the right-hand side mirror of our cars, can seem closer than they really are.  Success can feel close, but might still be a ways away so we have to stick with it, don't take our foot off the gas, and don't assume that we can change course before we achieve the success that we are trying to achieve.  Failure, on the other hand, can feel so close that we start to get fearful and paralyzed of what might happen next, when we are still far from failing.  The truth is that success and failure are located just about the same distance away from where we are.  We can't over anticipate either nor overreact to what we encounter along the way.  I have seen too many people who make decisions based on not accurately knowing where they are on the road to either success or failure.

God can seem close and far, but here's what we have to remember: He is always closer to us than He appears.  What that means is that if we just allow Him to be as close to us as He desires, that it just gets better and better.  We can't go wrong in that He wants to inhabit every part of our day, our thoughts, our actions and our attitudes.  As we work through today, and the meetings, phone calls, emails, etc., take a moment between each activity and ask Him to come closer.  He will and the closer we get to Him, the more great and wonderful things can happen.  When Moses got closer to God, Moses could hear God call His name. Now how cool would that be? Why don't we find out?!

Reference: Exodus 3:4 (New Living Translation)

day 801: Rearview Mirrors

“Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this”


Here in America we are taught in driver's training lessons to glance into the rear view mirror every 10-20 seconds. I distinctly remember this lesson as my driver's ed teacher (who I don't remember his name but taught health and P.E. in the normal school year) had a stopwatch and every 10-20 seconds would say to us, "Glance". It has stuck with me as you can tell. But, that's not to say that we should spend more time than this with the rear view mirror. I know a number of executives who spend most of their time and energy contemplating and remembering the past to either romanticize a time that they wish they could return to, or worse to complain and bemoan how the past were the good "back in the day" times. Understanding and knowing the past can be very helpful in not making the same mistakes twice and of course history does teach us lessons and in some cases does repeat itself. But, that does not mean we can take our businesses and live in the past or have our leaders spending too much time in the rear view mirror.

In our daily lives we can learn from the verse in Ecclesiastes. Our God is a God of hopefulness and about a future beyond our comprehension. For us to live in the past or looking over our shoulder for the "ifs and buts and "what ifs" then we are turning our heads to what God would have in store for us. And, we might well miss what God wants us to do for Him. At the beginning of this New Year we should be looking forward and setting our goals for how we will grow and develop throughout the year. Goals are future focused and other than setting the starting point, there isn't any good reason to spend time in the rear view mirror. Let's make 2012 the year of the future!

Reference: Ecclesiastes 7:10