What About the Winter Moments of Business Life?

Most of us are physically in the depths of winter right now and sometimes our business life can be the same. What happens when our business feels dormant?

We live in a world that tells you if you aren’t kicking major goals, that the exercise is fruitless. What if dormant was ok? What if everything was for a purpose, even a winter moment?

Not so long ago my little business was thriving, sales were flowing and business life was busy but not overwhelming and then the unexpected happened…One of my key staff resigned to take up a full time ministry position, she is also one of my closest friends. My business life was sent into chaos, I was grieving a working friendship and an employee, all roads I seem to try and rebuild felt like they were crumbling around me.  The last 7 months have been tough, really tough.

In the natural my body wants to work harder, do longer hours, focus only on my business and neglect every other area of my life until this business sees break through… BUT I have trained myself after many long years to seek GOD FIRST.

So, what do I hear God saying to me in this winter season?

He says to me “WAIT and SEEK” …In the waiting He can guide, teach and heal – in the waiting He is reminding me to look toward Him always.

So, I step into the word. I bury myself in my bible and seek guidance and study the word for wisdom.  It would be easier to listen to the unending resources online and the exhausting list of sermons available but that would be like only ever sitting in the passenger seat of a car and never being the driver.  God wants a personal relationship with us, He wants us to have personal revelations, and God wants us to learn to hear His voice.

Therefore, I asked God for a plan, and this is what He gave me…

Leading with Wisdom – 1 Kings 3:9 – Solomon asked for “a discerning heart” for wisdom – not wealth or long life but the ability to split right and wrong and the wisdom to carry this out. God was so pleased that His heart was for wisdom. Solomon often described himself as a servant, he said “God please grant this SERVANT”. Solomon was a King but he considered himself God’s Servant.

Keep the Vision – Reset your focus on the God given vision for your business. Write down that set of scriptures somewhere that you can keep it front of mind so when the changes happen and the boat starts to rock you can refer to the God inspired vision and set your eyes back on that instead of the storm. Just like a dancer doing pirouettes finds a spot to focus on every turn – we need a spot, a vision, to set so when our head turns it can steady our body with every head turn. Set our vision on Jesus and His promises.

Keep Trying – It can be difficult once the vision is set to keep on the course – Consider Noah once the rain had finished and he sent out the dove to find dry land. The dove wasn’t just sent out once! Noah sent the dove out to search for land several times, not just once. It wasn’t a fruitless exercise because the dove returned empty handed on the first go! Same in business, if we believe in what we do then just keep trying.

Tap into good soil – Matthew 24 Vs 32 – “Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near”.  Consider the seasons and the dead wood we find on a winter tree. If the tree is still tapped into good soil, as the sun returns the green little sprigs start to be revealed. If the roots are rotten, the spring will have no effect on the winter dormant tree.  Good soil for us is reading his word, tapping our roots deep into his ways and soaking in his presence. Allow Jesus to shape us and prepare for spring.

Celebrate His faithfulness – Give thanks always for the minor and the major. God loves a grateful heart, but He loves our faithfulness in all things. A Grateful journal is always a good thing to remind ourselves of where we started and how far we have come. Take time to turn back and look at the road behind – sometimes we can be so busy looking ahead we forget to see the road we have already walked. I am always feeling so time poor with so many hats to wear but I do a quick post it note and place it on a wall – it takes sometimes 10 seconds to record a moment where God blessed me personally or the business and before I knew it I had a wall full of celebration of His faithfulness.

As entrepreneurs and leaders we are action orientated people and this can mean our default mode is to act, DO SOMETHING.

Waiting can be painful to an entrepreneur’s heart but it can be healing, waiting isn’t always easy, waiting can be exhausting. In a world where immediate action looks for immediate results our challenge is in the waiting. Waiting on His timing for our business, it’s in the waiting, Jesus is in the waiting.

So – Where should we focus when we face a situation that in the natural seems dormant?

On His word and Seek, Seek, Seek.

Seek God and Rest in His unfailing promises – not a promise of a perfect tomorrow but a promise of unfailing love even in the winter moments of life.