The Generous Entrepreneur: A 3-Day Devotional on Serving Others With Joy and Generosityಮಾದರಿ

I want to live in God’s time zone. You know the one I mean, where I’m like Jesus, who was busy but never hurried.

In my business relationships, as in all my relationships, I want to be where I am when I am there. Fully present. Undistracted. Leaning in.

It’s easy to tell when I’m with someone who is mentally marking the clock. They look at their watch, check their phone, and tap their feet.

It affects me. I feel marginalized, unimportant, pushed aside. 

Yet, it is so easy for me to unconsciously do the same. In this busy world, time is money, my to-do list is long, and at times it seems that people are in the way.

They aren’t.

Years ago, in my very first job in a Christian bookstore, the owner painfully, with a hunt-and-peck method on an old Royal typewriter, put together an “Employee Manual.” It was one page long, and I’ll never forget Item #1.

“Customers are not an interruption of your work. They are your work.”

Wow. I had never thought of that. I’d get so busy dusting the display cases, rearranging the shelves, and restocking books that I would internally sigh when someone would come into the store, thinking they were interfering with my work.

But then I saw it.

They were my work.

The whole reason we existed was to serve them.

So, why do we hurry? Hurry is a result of false beliefs. Watch how God connects those two ideas in Isaiah 28:16 (ESV): “Whoever believes will not be in haste.”

When I believe, I don’t need to hurry. Hurry is a sign that I’m living life apart from God. If I’m hurrying, it means, internally, I’m believing and acting as if . . . 

·  If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.

·  God has not given me enough time to do what he said to do, so I’ll seize whatever I can.

·  My tasks take priority over this person.

·  I must say yes to every request.

Here’s the truth. God knows that we can’t be in two places at one time, and he doesn’t expect us to be. He knows we can’t get everything done, so he gives grace.

Today—and every day—let’s pray that in our business relationships, and in all our relationships, we will be unhurried and fully present. Undistracted. Leaning in.