Just for the record, I’m taking the different mountains in the same order as the picture.  There isn’t a priority to the order listed as I see it.

Business!

What a category that covers a lot of ground with a lot of layers.  Business as the business itself.  Business as it impacts society.  Business as it impacts employees.  Business as it impacts the boss.  Business as it impacts families. Business as it impacts you.  

Here is where foundation and focus becomes vital, because as I continue to read and study, this mountain can be more like quick sand, and suck its victims down before they even realize they are in trouble. I’m also speaking from experience.  

What is your definition of success?  And where are you placing your focus when it comes to achieving your vision?

I just read in a devo this week by Paul David Tripp, called New Morning Mercies. He stated that we either serve the creation or the creator.

What a slippery slope this can be. 

As we live this thing called life, and are called to be in this world and not of it, the business of life can be a tough one to navigate. This world is very savvy when it comes to pecking away at our psyche helping us to believe we need to keep up with our neighbors when it comes to stuff, that the more money we have the happier and easier life will be, and that new is best and old is out dated. I have such a love hate relationship with my Iphone.  If you don’t update, it seems to slow your phone down and it begins to act glitchy.  But if you do update, it takes up more space on your phone, which is limited and then there’s the apps, which is a whole different topic. Sometimes it works great, other times I’d rather have a string and tin can, and then there is the dollars and cents to not just own it, but keeping it.

Have you ever tried to take a back step from a smart phone to a older style flip phone? If you haven’t, prepare yourself for a battle between flesh and spirit!  Seriously, wow!

I’ve worked for small local business, international business, (ok, it was McDonald’s), and government. All the while trying to work out that fine balance between living life and earning what I need to live life. In my early years it was chasing the money as a means to buy me happiness.  If I made more, I’d save more, I’d have more to spend, and be able to do what I want, when I want, and the world would be mine to enjoy.

Needless to say it didn’t work out that way.  I let “my” money control me, run me, ruin me.  I filed bankruptcy, foreclosed on a home, still didn’t learn my lesson, and acquired more debt. Only by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and God placing people and processes in my life did I make it out. I learned to control my money and not let it control me. I learned that what we see, hear, and experience from this world, is not all good for me, and that less can definitely be more.

Though it’s not all bad, it just needs boundaries and perspective. 

What are we working for and whom are we working for? Keeping that perspective is powerfully important. It has taken me years upon years to learn, understand, and be comfortable with the fact I own nothing.

Jesus owns everything and gives me what I need. It is my responsibility to be grateful and take care of that He provides.

From the clothes on my back, the vehicles in the driveway, my marriage, my son and daughter, the money in the bank, the land I live on, it is all His. So when I work, I work for Him. He is my success.

All the while, hopefully leaving an impact that points to Jesus, my vision and focus.

Now this all sounds great! But I fail more than I succeed, and I have learned more and more each day how much I need the Gospel and Grace to live life well, every single day!  Literally!

With the many layers of business and the many different people and perspectives, in order to keep anything straight, Jesus needs to be the center of it all, if not we will truly loose our way. 

How do you keep Jesus at the center of your life?