Unpopular

Our Easter yesterday definitely didn’t go “as planned.” I was having a hard time waking up from hardly getting any sleep that night and my husband ended up getting sick, so needless to say we stayed home all day when our plans were to go to Church and the Easter Egg hunt after service. We didn’t do a whole lot around the house, either, because we were just kind of “blah.” We did get in some Skype time in the evening with our families, though! I could have easily sat on the computer all day and even answered business e-mails, post business info, networking, etc., but I didn’t. Why? Remember my post about my Day of Rest? Yes, it’s that important to me. Even though I wasn’t really capable of doing a whole lot physically with the family yesterday (and my husband more so wasn’t able to) I wasn’t going to break my commitment. It really got me thinking about something, though. It’s an “unpopular” decision. Some business owners may not even understand – or even think I’m crazy for taking an entire day of rest to reflect on God and family. As you can read in my post about it, I struggled with it for a long time, too!
This is not my only unpopular decision when it comes to business. In fact, I probably have more than a few! I’ve been living in this area about 5 months now and often feel like the “odd man out” or “unpopular” because it’s also the season for Relay for Life. I don’t support Relay for Life because of my pro-life beliefs. People think I “don’t get it.” The truth is we lived with it for while because my husband had cancer twice. People need help, and the big organizations are NOT that helpful – if at all. I’ll save all of that for another time, but basically if you TRULY have a heart for supporting someone going through cancer help them directly! Don’t give your money to the big organizations to turn around and use it for their overhead and supporting things that you may not believe in! There is a great article here that is wonderfully written on the subject! Again, I’m sure I will touch on it at some point as well!
So why make unpopular decisions – particularly if I know they’re unpopular? What if the top business person in the world told me I really should do business on Sundays and support any organization that is popular in this area so my business “looks good?” I still wouldn’t do it. You see, I know where my riches are – in Heaven. Of course, I don’t want to be unsuccessful in business, but ultimately God is my guide. I feel those unpopular things are exactly what He wants me to do – commit an entire day to Him and my family and stand up against organizations that are in contrary to what He teaches us. To sum it up in one word – TRUST. I trust that by following His guide I WILL be successful and our needs will always be met. I will pass down these VALUES to our children, which is an awesome inheritance! Am I saying by making these unpopular decisions I won’t be financially rewarded? Not at all! Again, I trust that God will reward me for being faithful to His Will! Ultimately, though, if I absolutely had to decide between earthly riches and Heavenly riches I would most definitely choose Heavenly riches! God, though, is gracious in that he doesn’t make us choose just one or the other. I feel MORE confident in my success here when I’m following Him closely! I encourage you, though, to focus on where you’re expending your efforts. Are you focusing them on the riches that you can’t take with you or the riches you’ll inherit in Heaven? What legacy are you leaving to your children – work really hard and spend most of your time in business and representing things that are contrary to your faith or that you truly trusted God in your journey? I’m ready to continue to step out and say “I trust God,” even though I know it’s unpopular, because I know we’ll be rewarded!