Mankind has been trading since the beginning. It is a language we all understand.
The rules are simple; give me what I want and in return I will give you something you want. The currency could be carrots, cash or cattle, but fail to deliver and I won’t pay you.
Trade isn’t restricted to things. The biggest resource we sell is time. Every employee trades their time for something from their employer. Depending on our skill and expertise we negotiate a price for our time. Don’t show up, you won’t be paid. Work hard and you’ll be rewarded.
In business we have many measures of success – How many sales. How much money. Where you live. What cars you drive. Which influencers you know.
Trade-based measures work their way into our every day. We give kudos to others based on the number of likes, pins and retweets, golf handicap, clothing or even a child reaching development milestones early.
Do well and we’re rewarded, but fail and then what?
What if you don’t achieve your sales targets this year? What if my performance metrics are down? What if our child never walks…?
It’s great to celebrate success, to reward your spouse when they do well. But what about when they fail?
What about when you fail?
Grace; it’s being given something we don’t deserve. It goes against the trade law ingrained in us from childhood. No, it’s not fair. But it’s so good.
Grace frees us from the burden of proving ourselves, of showing that we’re deserving of love and affection.
Set the pattern for a grace-filled marriage; Show grace to your spouse by loving them when they don’t deserve it. And because we all like to trade, grace will be heaped back upon you.
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