But Seek First His Kingdom

But Seek First His Kingdom

The Oak Street location has been closed for 3 months. At times it feels longer and at other times it feels like it was yesterday. At the end of October when we made the decision to close our brick and mortar, I have to say I was a bit unsure. Seriously, who am I kidding! I was terrified!  I was headed into unchartered territory, kinda like when we started The Marketplace. There was a lot of self doubt. But one thing I had to focus on was this, if God was in it I had to trust the process. Instead of focusing on sales, I had to focus on Him. Anytime things got hard, I had 1 thing playing in my head on repeat, “But seek first His Kingdom...” Not exactly a mantra of a store but hey, we aren’t a store, we are a ministry. 

For years I have been trying to catch my elusive unicorn named balance. I would find him but within days, he would move on. I was working 7 days a week for years. Was it unhealthy? Absolutely but I knew with everything I had on my plate, it was how I had to keep it going. God gave me multiple warnings to slow down. I would for a few days until another problem came up. When God started whispering to me to close the Oak Street, I struggled with that decision. “How are we going to keep increasing sales to help our artisans? Lord, are we sure about this?” Now on the other side of closing the store, I see the end result. My unicorn and I are friends. I have settled into a new normal. I walk a little slower and take time to fully be present in conversations. I am working closely with our artisans on new designs all around the world but more importantly my joy for what I do is back. I was back to my focus of why I do what I do. It’s always been about the Kingdom. 

Take a moment today to reflect on where you are. Are you where you should be? Is your focus on the right things? If not, course correct. What I have learned is life is not a short race, it’s a long marathon. Your focus will determine how you finish the race.

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