From Survival Mode to Growth Mode
Good Morning Friends,
There was a storm that blew through Immokalee earlier this week. The wind whipped up and the cattle gathered together in the fields and the egrets gather underneath the cattle. They were in survival mode, focused, determined, driven to exert energy toward getting through the demands at hand. Friends that has been the mode we have been in for a long time as an economy and perhaps as a people but I think now, if we trust, we can go From Survival Mode to Growth Mode.
Scripture: Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap. Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 (NRSV)
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” His armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.”
1 Samuel 14:6-14:7 (NRSV)
Message: Yesterday I heard the CEO of Price Waterhouse Coopers talk about a recent survey of corporate leaders around the world. These CEOs are gradually switching from survival mode to growth mode. With the worst of the global financial crisis behind them the world’s CEOs are “maybe” ready to grow jobs. The interesting thing is that they are optimistic about the growth occurring somewhere else. In looking at the passage in 1 Samuel, Jonathan seemed to be in a situation of uncertainty as well. The future, the absolute direction he needed for the present time just was not clear. There are times when we are just unsure and unclear on the right step to take, and the right move to make. Sometimes, all we have is a sense, a feeling, and something abstract. We have nothing concrete and sure. Most of the time, in every area of life, we like guarantees. We like the sure thing. But the “sure thing” doesn’t require any faith. The truth is, most of us will face more “maybe’s” than we will certainties in our walk with God. There will be times when we have a sense of what’s right, what God’s will is, but we will still have doubts and uncertainties. Ecclesiastes 11 is about moving from survival mode to growth…pressing through these uncertainties. Friends, we are not to get caught up waiting for all things to align themselves. If all we do is wait on the right time, on the right conditions, on the right people, or the right atmosphere, then nothing will get done. The metaphor used in Ecclesiastes 11, relates this truth to sowing and reaping. Sometimes you have to move out on a “maybe” trusting God to transform it into a miracle. Breaking out of survival mode is not so easy if you have not decided where you are going. Lewis Carroll in the book Alice in Wonderland describes the problem in a dialog between the Cheshire cat and Alice:
Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you’re going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.
Friends, it is time to break out of survival mode and into growth mode with a clear direction. Do you trust enough to take the next step?
Pray we have direction in our life path that is neither dominated by chaos nor control. Pray we get past the pride. Pray we realize we are never alone on the journey. Pray we stop trying to do it all. Pray we say yes to the best. Pray that we realize that it is about seeking a life that matters. Pray we embrace a passion for life. Pray we never lose sight of the big picture. Pray we have a perspective of hope. Pray we walk by faith not by sight.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 