2014 Reflections: The Path of my Life and Business

The story of my 2014 can only be told if I look back six months prior. On July 11, 2013, I fell and severely broke both bones in my lower left leg.  This alone carried with it lessons and new awareness to last a lifetime and for the first three and a half months of my recovery, my ability to move around, serve clients and find new ones was limited. What was not in short supply was time to think and consider, “what next?”  I bemoaned to close friends there wasn’t a big vision in my heart or mind for my business and as 2014 arrived, I wondered (with a bit of desperation) what the year would look like.  I had a lot of tension around the fact that I didn’t have that big vision I thought every business owner should have.

The big realization came through some intense coaching and reflection with a dear friend and as the year began, he challenged me to look at how God historically works in my life.

The truth of the matter was revealed in a simple mental picture.  The picture is a path of stepping stones.  The stones behind me are those I’ve walked on through my life.  They represent opportunities presented to me, relationships with people and doors I’ve walked through.  I realized that in my life I’ve never been given a big vision of something to build or a mission to complete.  I’ve had some hutches, but God simply placed one stone at a time in front of me so that I know where to go next and sometimes he generously put out a few stones so that I knew the direction I was headed but not more than that.  The powerful part of this picture was it has never failed!

This was affirmed in early 2014 by the work I’m doing with clients and the projects I’ve invited to be a part of.  I would have said, “no, way” had you told me I’d be doing this particular work in 2014, but here I am with this book of business, these clients to serve and cool new opportunities in front of me that I could not have predicted.

I come to the mid-point of 2014 with a tremendous peace in the understanding of how God works in my life.  Knowing the stones will be laid out for me to walk on, to hold loosely what may seem clear today and live in gratitude for every moment I have.  He may decide one day, maybe even today, to plant a big vision in my heart, but for now it's one stone at a time.