October 17. I Am All Tied Up!

Leaders create and guide the process of value delivery. The team that is put together is guided and so are the customers or clients they serve. We assemble what today I will call a rope. We take "strands" and weave them together to create a billing process.

Strands are woven to purchase machines, computers, and materials to manufacture. We weave labor, marketing, and management into the mix. But this rope that comes together when they are all woven together is the rope of value. What does your rope do?

What value does it provide? Maybe it is used to attach others to teams like the rope on a lifeboat or maybe it is a rope of rubber that surrounds and protects something. But our rope can also be used to tie and entangle others when it is not used appropriately.

If that occurs, it might even tie up our own systems and value delivery. Ropes can be of various strengths. If your rope is weak and not doing a very good job of creating value, then it needs some focus. If your rope is strong but it is entangled in knots, it needs some focus.

Where is your organization seemingly knotted up? Are you willing to put some focus this week on the rope of value with your team? What is the first step you can take today?

As Christians, we can act like weavers. Our actions are like the strands of a rope that we create. We read, ““He wove my sins into ropes to hitch me to a yoke of captivity. The Lord sapped my strength and turned me over to my enemies; I am helpless in their hands.” Lamentations 1:14 NLT.

We are to be following God's weaving. How are you weaving together love, compassion, and forgiveness? Another segment of your rope might be your sin, hatred, and selfishness. There is a section of our rope that deals with the relationships of our family, God, and our community.

Are we using our relationship with Christ as the core that we weave around? Is Jesus the strength that everything else will adhere to or have we made something else be at the core of the rope? Are your core beliefs concerned about your wealth, your comfort, or your happiness, as is so prevalent in this world?

What might you do to improve your weaving and who do you know that can help with it? We will create the type of rope we want when we bring attention and focus to why we are doing it. Imagine building a rope with hundreds of different fibers available to you.

Some fibers work for your life while others do not. Some would strengthen your faith, and some might weaken it. Some fibers might grow the rope while others might require shortening it. What focus will you put on building the rope that God is asking you to build to be the best you?

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

Let us pray, Heavenly Father, you are the weaver and Creator. You have made each of us a strand of your world. You have encouraged us to weave and given us the tools to do that. Remove our actions that when put together can put us in knots and entangle us.

Thank you for sending us Christ so that our rope is one that will bind us together in love. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,