By: DA Slinkard
For those of you who are accustomed to walking into the Staples location in Athens, Alabama, and seeing my face, well I am here to tell you not to be surprised when you no longer see me in there. I have written many times and have given examples of things in which I believe people, and most importantly Christians, should be more willing to stand up for when it comes to what the Bible says. I recently put my money where my mouth is and decided, based off my personal, moral, and religious convictions, that working for Staples was no longer a good fit neither for me nor my family.
Recently, my previous boss came into the store and told me that after I left the company, it would be the test of how good a manager I was depending upon how well the store performed without me. He went on to say if the store continued well, then I built it to last; but if the store suffered in performance, then obviously the issue was with me and just “muscling” through on a daily basis. When any team loses a leader, there are going to be consequences, and as I spoke with a pastor friend, he immediately brought up Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”
Even though I have moved on from Staples, the truth of the matter is the employees need to maintain the vision of excellence. If the vision goes away, then the excellence will go after and there will be a dip in performance. Now we need to translate this over to your life. Last article, I wrote about goals and writing them down twice daily; but let me ask you what your vision looks like for your life? Are you thriving or are you barely surviving? The Bible tells us that the people with no vision, they will perish. If you are getting bad results in your life, maybe it is time you are honest with yourself about the vision for your life.
Many times I think about the vision I have for my life, and I think about who I am and who I want to be. This is why I believe it to be utterly important that we write our goals down twice daily. The more we see our goals, the more we become focused on achieving those goals. When we know what we want to achieve, we are more apt to take the necessary steps to obtain our desired results.
The problem is in our clarity. We lack a true vision or understanding of what we need to do to accomplish our goals in life. We plan for the best case scenario when we actually should plan for the struggles in life. Our way of life has changed drastically and this has clouded our vision. Two hundred years ago people went to work so they could survive. There was the concern of where the next meal would come from. Now, we go to work so we can buy bigger and better toys. Many of us do not even think about where our next meal will come from.
The struggle is no longer real. The struggles my grandparents faced are not the same struggles I face, and the struggles of my kids are not the same I had as a kid. Our world is evolving but the one thing that does not change is God’s Word; yet we have changed the value system of what God’s Word means to us. I can remember being a kid and businesses were shut down on Sunday as everyone was at church. What has happened? Our vision has changed.
People talk about our country going to hell in a handbasket, and I believe it is because we no longer fear God. The vision of what God expects from us is not the same vision we expect for our lives. Too many people go to work to be able to enjoy the few short years after retirement when they should be thinking about how they can live for God. Sadly, this is not a popular message because of what our culture has taught us. The world has changed our views on the expectations of God and this has changed our vision. We need to redefine our definition of success and refocus our vision. If we revisit our goals and refocus on our vision, we can make a change in our lives. The choice is ours to make.
By: DA Slinkard
