Get Bitter or Get Better

It’s no secret that launching a business can be a long, difficult journey. We are here to help you in more ways than one. Staffing Atlanta’s start-ups with talented refugees is our main focus, but we also have had the opportunity to compile a devotional plan for the YouVersion Bible App called Bible on Business. The following guest post was provided for this series.

Get Bitter Or Get Better

 

It´s like this when you live the story of being an entrepreneur: The first part happens fast.

You throw yourself into establishing a business, and you´re out on the water; the shore is pushing off behind you and the trees are getting smaller. The distant shore doesn´t seem so far, and you can feel the resolution coming, the feeling of getting out of your boat and walking the distant beach. You think it´s going to happen fast, that you´ll paddle for a bit and arrive on the other side by lunch. But the truth is, it isn´t going to be over soon.

 

The work is harder than you imagined. But the point is not just about getting to the other side; achieving your visions and seeing results. It´s much more about your character getting molded in the hard work of the middle.

 

At some point the shore behind you stops getting smaller, and you paddle and wonder why the same strokes that used to move you now only rock the boat. You made the network and got influence through business, but you just don´t know if you have enough to make it through. You´d rather work for someone else, and live a common life, because the far shore doesn´t get closer no matter how hard you paddle. The shore you left is just as distant, and there is no going back; there is only the decision to paddle in place or stop, slide out of the hatch, and sink into the sea.

 

When something hard happens to you, you have two choices in how to deal with it. You can either get bitter or better.

Gods call to you today is clear: don’t get weary of doing good, for in due season you will reap, if you do not give up.

 

It´s like this with every crossing. You paddle until you no longer believe you can go any farther. And then suddenly, well after you thought it would happen, the other shore starts to grow, and it grows fast. The trees get taller and you can make out the crags in the cliffs, and then the shore reaches out to you, to welcome you home, almost pulling your boat onto the sand.

 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace while you´re paddling your distance today. And may He grant you power to continue the crossing.

 

Anne Maria Leune is the owner of Rocks´n Rivers and resides in northern Norway.