It’s A Complex Time We’re Experiencing

Headlines this morning and from a webinar earlier this week, if you are the average person facing life, you are unaware of the dangerous times we are creeping through. The average person stresses to find work, put food on the table, a roof over the head, and enjoy a few meager niceties. Those in the know watch the indicators and markets – Bear, Bull, Contraction, Crunch, Recession – among other terms. They are bandied about much like a medical professional describes a disease with fancy schmancy words most of us are clueless about.

Speak E-N-G-L-I-S-H, please.
Tone down the rhetoric and big words.
Come down to the level of the masses and tell us what’s going on
and how to survive the times we’re experiencing.

Can we live these times and not know the backstory? Sure. Can we make some smart moves? Definitely. Who do we listen to, and who can we trust? Whoa! That’s two different questions, and each has a potentially tricky answer.

How Do We Make It Through?

I’ve learned one of the best things I can do in any potential crisis is to stay “fluid.” One rich person says he’s unloaded his real estate, parked his cash in quick liquidity investments, and is ready to pounce when the market shifts. That’s when the wealthy become wealthier.

For the remainder of the population, stay fluid. Don’t waste money. Store the acorns in the season of plenty to get through the times when the cold winds of adversity blow. Conserve what you have instead of spending it on things you don’t need.

Of course, that means you need to define Needs and understand they are not Wants. Dave Ramsey says it like this:

Take It Spiritual For A Moment

The times we are in are equally complex on many fronts. It’s not just the financial market or whether you make enough to survive, it’s also your Spiritual House.

Which is more important?

In his Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus identifies his ministry foundation, a one-liner tells us to Seek Him First. (Matthew 6:33). Put the Lord first, and the other things in life will be added to your life.

Consider Solomon’s book of Proverbs. A storehouse of his one-liners tells the individual story and a national focus. You can extract any verse and make it say what you want, but I always say you must keep it in context to what was said before and after.

Can you spot the one we always use to tell us how to teach others best?

By humility and the fear of the LORD
Are riches and honor and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
He who guards his soul will be far from them.
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich rules over the poor,
And the borrower is servant to the lender.
(Proverbs 22:4-7 NKJV)

Never extract a scripture for a single lesson when a section gives you the entire gist.

Teach a child early there are thorns and snares in life,
and if you are indebted, you will always be a servant.
Do you want to be rich?
Be humble, and fear the Lord.

What words do you say to yourself when you find the complexity of life challenges you the most? I have a few words I can think of, and I tell them to myself often.

• Before you make a move, know where you are.
• Think before you leap, look before you step, and no matter what you do, Thimk It Through.
• If the sales pressure is “you must do it now,” don’t hesitate to wait.
• “No.” That’s a complete sentence – don’t feel like you must explain. (Learned it again, I did.)
• Don’t be a victim of “analysis paralysis.”
• The early bird may get the worm, but is the worm what you want?

How about you? Are there some cautionary words you speak to yourself as you face the world each morning? Feel like sharing?