Monday, March 15, 2010

Stepping Stones: Taking Inventory

Transformational Tip

Business is very complicated and messy. Always in a rush…scurrying around. Good business owners slow life down, sort the pieces and count them. They take regular inventory of their stock. These inventories are a useful business-planning tool. Inventories can reveal growth or decline in business productivity…show possible obstacles to growth. Most importantly, they can assist business owners in making changes for a better future.

Life often moves faster than business, as the merry-go-round of life just constantly speeds up…till we hit the retirement home. Taking a regular inventory of our life can also be productive. It can help us answer questions about the directions our life is moving. Are we growing or declining in character development…in spiritual maturity. Are we moving toward our life goals, or are there hindering obstacles? Are we growing in our relationship with God? What changes do we need to make to move ahead more effectively?

Know that God loves you and he wants to help you eliminate those things in your life that may be hurting you…and others. But before He can help you, you must face up to the fact that these problems exist. Remember…Jesus is with you. He will not disappoint you in your time of personal searching.

Today, be determined to take inventory of your life. Consider your relationships with God, your family, your church, and your friends. Be honest. Ask God to help you see things as they really are…to face any obstacles, either in you or outside of you…without making excuses.

Click here to share with the Stepping Stones community your perspective on taking a personal inventory.

Prayer
Dear Father, I confess is make mistakes. Instead of trying to sweep them under the carpet, help me take a good, honest look at myself. Help me see what is pleasing to You … and what is disappointing You. Help me understand a concrete strategy to really start to move forward in struggle areas of my life. Help me to reorder my life under You. I pray this the name of Your Son who always searched Himself well, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say - AMEN!

The Truth
Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD
Lamentations 3:40
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3