February 11. Got Milk, Messes, or Memorials?

We are all born into this world through a process that we call birth. Every business has its own birth as well. As a leader, you might have started many things. But when we leave this world, we call it a death and every business that I know of will probably have a death as well.

It is a different process for a business to expire in many ways. There are many businesses that have been around for the length of time that I have been on this earth. But they too will die someday in the future. We do not know when they will fail though.

The process of growing and of ending can be messy and even painful sometimes. It does not normally come at a time that is convenient and it generally requires some clean up as well. The good news is that there are people who remain loyal to us during that process.

They help us through those transition points of time. I am thankful for those people. Sometimes those people can help us become renewed or even reborn. It requires resources and refocusing to become a new leader or a new business.

The history of the world has plenty of evidence of successes that have died. Some reading this article will remember Radio Shack and some will not. We can ask ourselves, “Where is our team in decay, where is our team experiencing the dying process?”

If it is a planned decay, congrats to you as leader for accelerating it so that something else can be created. If it is not planned, then as leader what is next? At a minimum, we might thank those that have been part of our team. There is always an opportunity when decay or death begins.

What is the first thing that you can do about it in the next seven days?

As Christians, the reality is we are either growing or decaying both mentally and physically. We can have an impact on the process especially when we allow those who are loyal to us to help. There is no one more loyal to us than the trinity.

The Father, Son: Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all ready to help us to continue our path of growth. They will do it regardless of our physical state and what our body and minds might think are our limitations. Sometimes we just need to count on those that are loyal to us when things get messy.

“I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me.” 2 Corinthians 2:5 NLT. When we get hurt and when the messes come, let us step back.

Let us take ten and think about those times where those that are part of our team have been loyal. Those that are loyal share their love. Love in the home is effective and works. Love in the church works. Love in the workplace works as well. Love is what can transform decay into something else.

It is by love that Christ made his sacrifice on the cross. It is by that same love that our ultimate decay of our worldly bodies will have the opportunity for heavenly transformation. Let us bring heaven to earth now by finding those in decay and bring them a new opportunity.

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, there are many messes. Endings can be especially messy, but we know that you hold the power to resurrect. Help us to turn to you when our lives and businesses get that way. Let us find you and the still small voice that you send to us.

May we keep our ears, hearts, and minds open for your Holy Spirit to come to us in this place. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen,