Simplify
One of my four main goals for 2020 is to love people well. It’s a broad statement and in December, I didn’t fully understand it when it dropped into my heart. I didn’t notice until just now as I was writing, but this goal lines up very well with Matthew 22:39. ‘…You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’
As a side note, if you want to see God move, align your goals with a scripture.
Just sayin’.
To love people well seems like an awfully broad and weighty goal. Then, as the Holy Spirit often does, the second part of Matthew 22:39 jumped off the page and into my heart…
‘in the same way you love yourself’
And….what exactly does that look like, to love my entrepreneurial self? I’m glad you asked. These are some very practical things I do:
- Praying over my business
- Monthly technology detox
- Weekly Sabbath – resting my mind and soul while trusting God to take care of my business
- Dedicating daily CEO time
- Setting aside time for Quarterly and annual planning
These activities and graces I allow myself are not hard. In fact, they are simple and life giving.
God is so much fun. I needed to identify how I love myself so my heart wasn’t overwhelmed by Matthew 22:39. The Holy Spirit broke down the scripture so I saw and concentrated on the second half before I got bogged down by the first half.
I had to see that loving others as I love myself can be as simple as what I do for myself.
With all of that said, keep following me here because I had to explain the above to get to this point.
This feels like a chain reaction or even better, a movement. Do you see it?
There is no better person to pray for an entrepreneur … than another entrepreneur. You and I can identify with one another and barely have to even speak. I may not have followed the exact industry as you, but as entrepreneurs, our hearts are aligned.
So ….. let me challenge you to jump into this movement God has for us. As you’re praying over a difficulty in your business, take a second to ask Holy Spirit who else is going through this. I promise, He will drop a name in your heart. Add your entrepreneurial friend to your prayers.
Then, may I encourage you to take it one step further?
Reach out to that person and let them know they were on your mind and you prayed for them. I’ve done this and even through a text message, I can almost see their tense shoulders drop and their stress levels decrease.
I’ll begin the process by praying for my issue and then as the Holy Spirit drops that person into my heart, I’ll finish up by praying for them. I won’t include their name, but a blank.
Father God, thank you for the entrepreneurial spirit. It is the greatest gift you have placed in me. As I struggle with the balance of what I hear going on in our world and keeping my eyes on you, I ask that you help me keep my eyes squarely focused on You and the next step. I ask that you help me trust you for the plan even though I only see the next step as you reveal it to me. I want to honor you with everything I do. I pray today for _______ as she also struggles with this same issue. I pray her business sees success day after day as she continues to learn the business she is in. Help her and I remain in our lane and tap into the zone of genius you have placed in us. Oh, and help us identify even more clearly our zone of genius, our gifts, our talents and our strengths. I ask all of this in Jesus Name, Amen.
May today’s business exceed yesterday and be less than what you see tomorrow.
Very Humbly Yours,
Jennifer Edwards
Loving Myself
Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash
“Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love.”
Hebrews 10:24 TPT