Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Consolidate....

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting with a young man (25-year-old) to look at some possible updates to our website. The young man is very wise for his age and probably doesn’t even know it. Notice I said ‘wise’ not ‘intelligent.’ However, it just so happens he is very intelligent, too! What a powerful combination!

I want to focus on his wisdom in the blog today. As I said I was meeting with him to look at our website together and get a ‘younger mind’ perspective. In the character of the apostle Paul he started out by telling me the good things about our website. He even went on to share that we had most of the guts (my word) needed for a website to communicate. He then shared with me that while the look of our web site isn’t bad, it is just out of date. We then proceeded to talk about how to make it more user friendly, communicate what we wanted communicated more clearly and improve the look. Then he made a statement that I shall forever have packed away in my little ‘nugget bag’, “The goal isn’t to tear away features but to consolidate.”

My mind immediately switched gears from our conversation (of course he had no clue my mind had left the table) to how many marriages, families, churches, ministry organizations, etc., I have watched be destroyed over the past many years because someone didn’t like something anymore and instead of having the wisdom to know how to consolidate, they became a wrecking ball. (Please note: I realize that sometimes you cannot consolidate, so there are exceptions but I am talking generically.)

Consolidate means to:

1.      Make something physically stronger or more solid “the first phase of the project is to consolidate the outside wall.”

2.      Combine a number of things into a single, more effective or coherent whole “all manufacturing activities have been consolidated in new premises.”

Synonyms: combine, unite, merge, integrate, amalgamate, fuse, synthesize, bring together, unify

The goal with our website isn’t to go in and tear away features but to consolidate them, to do whatever it takes to make the website stronger, more effective, and a more coherent whole. 

In marriage and/or family counseling, I’m not looking at the gaping hole in the wall but I’m listening to see if I have any building materials left to work with to bring the marriage and/or family back together. To consolidate, make it stronger with what I have left to work with, not to destroy it all because of a hole. 

In churches and organizations the trend is for someone to come in and tear away the features of that church and/or ministry organizations instead of looking for and listening for ways to consolidate those features and make it stronger and unified. That is a missing piece of wisdom in our leadership today in many churches and ministry organizations. 

Can I ask you a question? Is it time to ‘listen’ instead of focusing on the hole in the wall in your marriage, family, church, and/or ministry organization? Is it time to apply the wisdom of learning that you don’t have to tear away all the features but you need the wisdom to know how to consolidate, bring together, unify, etc.?

Please be willing to step back and ask yourself these questions. Be willing to kneel before our Heavenly Father and ask Him to show you if Satan has deceived you into believing a lie that God isn’t big enough to consolidate and strengthen what the enemy has tried to take a bite out of!

Be praying for Southeast Asia. We are zeroed in on our hotel and hope to open up registration to the m’s come the first part of March. Our theme is Fight the Good Fight from 1 Timothy 6:12. 

Because we have two conferences going back to back please make sure in your giving to designate to which trip you want sponsorship for the m’s to go - Southeast Asia (September) and/or Mexico (November).

Love you all and can’t wait to watch all that God is up to for the m’s that will be attending these retreats.

His,
Vickie

 

 

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