Article #32 YOU
Have you ever been in that place where you were in the right place at the right time to get the right task accomplished? It is rare. We were invited to do a meal with a young couple recommended to us by another young couple we have served for the last fourteen years. We had been in the outer orbit of this new couple for a couple of years. We had been in the process of getting to know them, their family, and to understand some of their story. We had reviewed in depth some of the work they had done. This was the first time we had met face to face. Personally, we fell in love with them from the get-go.
It was polite breakfast brunch conversation. Inside a loud crowded breakfast place with clanking of plates and clanging of silverware combining with multiple conversations in the large open area, conversation came in bits and pieces. And then something majestic occurred. It was an amazing though somewhat awkward moment. All of a sudden it felt like the four of us were all alone in a quiet place. That still small voice of whispered divine direction within the backdrop of chaos of a restaurant brought the “real you” to the surface of the young couple. It was a simple question, not intentionally meant to be disquieting, but it resonated deeply inside both of them. I asked him why he was still employed at the bank. I was kind of surprised he was still working there. They had been pursuing a passion of their hearts on the side for a considerable amount of time. Now practically, I reviewed their moonlighting, side hustle entrepreneurial enterprise like I was back in my classroom at the university. After all the years of evaluating entrepreneurial enterprises, it becomes easy to sense which ones have “legs” from ones that are just dreams. It was clear to me the that this side hustle would elbow out other elements of current vocation for both of them. The time equation would simply add up to “I just do not have time for everything.” The commercial world of banking may need to yield to something deeper.
POINT OF DECISION
The side hustle “vocation” became calling. What Elaine and I did not know was this young couple sitting in front of us had been getting nudging, messages, and encouragement from multiple places to move full time into the enterprise transitioning out of the bank employment. He has a vocation and a great paying job at the community bank. But the yearning of his soul and their souls together as husband and wife, were to move toward the enterprise they had been incubating. It was a big step.
Elaine and I rolled up our sleeves and began to do our work with them. First, send us your information on you and your new enterprise. We dug through the data asked some questions got more clarifying information. Two critical elements needed to be addressed. The second was the very nature and structure of the enterprise. We thoroughly reviewed their operational and financial plans asked them to clarify leadership roles and more clearly articulate budgets. These were very important tasks to be sure although all of these are second elements. The first element was -what size shoe do you wear? What? I didn’t catch that! The photo above is a memorial to a good friend. It resides in his bookcase next to their kitchen, front and center. When many people move out of commercial life and/or retire, they get plaques and gold watches or perhaps a certificate to commemorate the achievement. This guy got a bronze boot. His life calling was to size people up and get them fitted into the exact right size shoes to walk out their divine calling. Elaine and I are sizing up this young couple for new shoes because the tasks at hand are VERY different than those of the past. This story illustrates a further, deeper treatment of this You section of building a soul roadmap.
The new shoes need to be able to tread on ground occupied by the holy of holies. Hallowed ground. Their lifelong calling is calling them. And, we get the privilege of being cobblers. The work we do and have been doing since 1986 is to assist people to live into their original design. It is our complete calling now. It is why we are going to invite people to workshops when these articles are completed. It is why, during the workshop designed to accelerate building your own Soul Roadmap and then drive on it, we will help you to find shoes that fit the new you. The back story to the photo above is that man helped me find my new “fit” sized boot back in 2003 after my father died. He became my mentor to replace the mentor my father was to me.
So what is your shoe size?