“I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.”
Philippians 4:12 I know our assignment is to highlight a bright spot about Covid. While my spot isn’t shiny bright, it highlights a lesson that I have learned during this pandemic period. I have been a member of SCORE for about 9 years. SCORE is a Federally supported group of volunteers, who have previous business experience, that help people start entrepreneurial efforts or fix business that have run into some business difficulty. The first 8 years of this “job” was actually quite easy and a great deal of retirement “fun”. The bulk of my previous career prepared me to do this task and all I really had to do is share my life experiences. Helping people build business is fun. Covid has changed all of that. Building businesses is fun but clearing the wreckage of a failed business is devastating. All that I knew about bankruptcy prior to the virus is that bankruptcy was a legal way to recover from a business downfall. I knew about the condition from a corporate point of view. I never really saw the effects of business failure at the human level. Covid brought a new reality! As I write this, I have had 5 clients that are working through the bankruptcy process. Their businesses and families are in shambles. I never experienced the real reality of true economic devastation. I have seen real people (my clients) wonder how to pay the bills that are arriving daily, how to buy food, how to maintain rental housing where the renters are no longer paying rent, lose houses because they secured business loans based on the equity in their family homes, and closing once viable business that will never reopen. These are real people that in February 2020 operated businesses that provided for their families and by October 2020 are with no means to support themselves or their family. I never experience that kind of devastation. But while I see the gloom of it from my perspective, I have the means to move on. But for these people, life hurts badly. The reality is that failure can be real, and it can hurt. Think of those around you that are feeling this hurt. They are most likely not the “rich” business people as you have tagged them. They are real people whose only choice is to start all over again. “Lord strengthen these people to have the energy to start all over again!” Robert E. Griffin
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Authors:The people of Grace share their favorite bible stories for the 2023 Lenten Devotional: I Love to Tell the Story. Each day's devotional will be automatically posted so come back daily after 7 am for a new reflection. |