The peace of God that passes all understanding keep you and guide you in all that you do.
The God of all Comfort bring goodness to your morning, day, and evening.
The God of Glory capture your moments and make them miraculous.
In other words, just have a really incredible day.
Royal Living - Refreshment For You
More from the search of Hezekiah's men.
Proverbs 25:13 Trustworthy messengers refresh like snow in summer.They revive the spirit of their employer. New Living Translation
Getting The Message: Everyday there are lessons from friends that escape our attention. How do we hear beyond the message at hand?
One Thing Leads To Another: All around me are co-laborers. Some of the most enjoyable are those that serve with diligence. They have the keen sense to understand the vision of our work and carry it out unattended. They just don't need a lot of instruction to get the job done exactly as needed. Personal discretion guides them.
Taking Back Trust: An article in the Wall Street Journal points to a lack of trust as an impetus behind the "Taking Back" movement. Seems like the '60s all over again to me. Societally, we are questioning our morals, our underpinnings, our business structures, our government, and essentially our selves. Where has trust gone? The mirror holds a ragged face.
Refreshed: Our marketing thrust includes a planning calendar to key clients and friends once a quarter. When we originated the idea, it seemed foreign to my staff. There was a lot of struggle over what it should be and how it should look. Through a few iterations, the piece took great form with a cover letter and some personalization. When it was time for this quarter, the calendar and the letter appeared. I did not have to ask, well no too many times anyway. Yet, this time the task was easy for me. One wrote the letter in my style. It is hard to read it and know I did not write the text. Another crafted the calendar and imbedded personalization that make it seem like you are the only one getting the calendar. A task that was a struggle is now a refreshment.
Impact: Not only was this refreshing to me as the task was made easy, it is a refreshing to our friends. Within a few days of sending the calendars, people across the nation told me how important this simple gift had become. They are putting their most important life events on this calendar. It is kept in the best of places for reference. People are being refreshed across the nation from a team of trustworthy messengers.
Prayer: Strong God of Action, bring light to our day. Somewhere there is a a friend, teacher, boss, leader, pastor, father, or mother that needs the service of a trustworthy messenger. Someone needs to be served. Teach me and teach You to serve in a trustworthy manner. Teach us to be open and caring and trusting. Refresh us with the life of Your Holy Spirit that we might be a refreshing to others.
Royal Living - Listening and Opening
More from the search of Hezekiah's men.
Proverbs 25:12 To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewelry. New Living Translation
Getting The Message:
Everyday there are lessons from friends that escape our attention. How do we hear beyond the message at hand?One Thing Leads To Another: It is common to learn from our mistakes. The hard part seems to be in learning when we don't learn. Learning from the observations of a friend or a counsel or authority when we take a wrong turn can be painful. But it brings a golden strength for your future.
Undervalued: During a negotiation Jerry brought in an advisory group. Somehow, he was sensitive that he was overlooking something necessary for a good contract. Win/win is important. He felt he was in a win/lose transaction. After an hour of review, one of the advisors simply stated, "Put it on your terms." That was enough. The agreement was leaning too far from a good profit model. In the long term both parties would be upset.
As he worked to shift the negotiation to a more equitable basis after the consultation, it was evident the other party was looking for a win/lose negotiation. Every small point was countered with a lose proposition. After only a few interactions, the other party withdrew. It revealed intent. They were not looking for equity in the arrangement, but conquest and full advantage. The golden correction and counsel of a friend prevented what would have been months of hardship and consternation. Good thing Jerry took the time to consult and allow questioning of his logic. Don't you think so, You.
Oddity
After working through the cessation of the negotiation, Jerry reviewed some of the criticisms from the imbalanced other side of the negotiation. One of the criticisms was painfully pointed and true. It had been addressed and resolved, but it showed another issue. A partner on whom Jerry was depending was not being forthright and accurate. It caused several problems over the last months. Jerry was overlooking the problems of the long term partnership believing the best of them. They weren't playing their best. They were playing him to enable transactions in their favor.
Even though the criticism came from a slanted source, You, it was truthful. Received, it opened the ability to look at alternatives. In a few short days, alternatives to the errant partner's involvement were proving to bring significant savings in operational costs. Another golden favor was embraced.
Prayer:
Father of all Comfort, You see when we are going directions of pain and problem. Along our path, plant friend and foe to correct us. Give us insight to learn from all sources at all times. Hinder our pride. Open our ears. Allow wisdom to seep deeply into us even when we are locked in our own positions. Let You live royally and rightly in the kingdom of grace.
