Today I was at Starbucks chatting about business with a colleague from my reporter days. He talked about the power of the entrepreneurial hustle, and his voice carried the authority of a person who had experienced success. A business-minded person doesn't emphasize the lack or the hopelessness, but is captivated by the light of opportunity. A business-minded person, my friend went on, possesses the knack to close the deal, not just dream about it.
One of the parables of Jesus extols the savvy steward who knew how to multiply his money. Instead of clinging to the little and the certain, the exemplary steward reached for the impossible and was praised for it. Could it be that the "ceilings and walls" that seem to imprison us during this economic crunch have more ways out than we think? Could it be that God's miracle workings in our lives lie not in the unexpected check in the mail, but in the engine of our ingenuity?
I read Psalm 8 today, a passage God takes me to often. I've wondered why and today I mumbled when that passage came to mind. Psalm 8 again?! C'mon, God, can't we do better than that today? I've got major things to deal with and I need a "word." Patiently, God allowed me to see that "the word" was that I was not operating in my dominion. Not dominion over people, but as Psalm 8:6 says, God made men and women rulers over the works of his hands. In other words, the work of the planet.
I believe God is expecting us to prayerfully tap our imagination, study our environment, employ our gifts, determine the needs, and spring forth in the areas where he has given us leadership. That puts the economic downturn in another perspective altogether. Instead of a hopeless field of play, we see an obstacle course we are destined to conquer.
Judy Howard Ellis
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