If You're Struggling in Business - Think of Goats

Small business, like every other aspect of our life, is a wonderful opportunity for learning and personal growth. There are seasons where things run smoothly and click right along. We like those seasons don't we? And then there are periods of time where the Lord is stretching us to a new place - this is the time where He trims away aspects of our "selves" and replaces them with more of Him.

Almost without exception we humans struggle and fight these growing pains until we finally relinquish our will to the Lord and give Him control of the things that we were never really in control of to begin with. Our friend Jacob "wrenched" his hip during one such struggle (Gen 32:24-25). The Lord says we are His sheep - but we're so stubborn sometimes that I think we're more like goats.

I was reminded of this last week when I helped my friend Joan shear 7 of her goats. We were a little late in the season to be shearing, so the goats had long and sometimes matted wool. Just like us humans sometimes, there was a great deal of "stuff" to remove. It was my job to hold the goats still during the process so they wouldn't get injured by the shears. Each goat started out fairly cooperative. But the longer the shearing went on - the more they started to struggle - especially as we got to some of the more "tender" parts of the body. Some struggled so much that I had to hold them very, very tight. Some got nicked by the shears. During this last part, I whispered in their ear: "It's almost over - you'll feel better when it's done - I promise".

That's when it hit me. This is what our Father does when we're going through our stuggles. His strong arms are around us the whole time that we are being "sheared". He never lets go of us. And when it gets to the end when we get to the core of the struggle - our tender parts - He whispers in our ear. "I'm right here. I've always been here. We're almost through. You'll feel better - I promise".

So no matter what your problem is in your small business, whether its finances, marketing, product mix, employee relations, customer retention (you get the idea), take a lesson from our friends the goats. You can struggle all you want and maybe get a little nicked up in the process. Or you can stop resisting and just know that the Lord is holding you tight and whispering in your ear. It is His business after all - isn't it?

Gotta go and put a bandaid on now -

Barb the goat.... baaaaa