Stuck

If there was one word that described perfectly my frustration with my business over the last 15 years, I think it would be the word "Stuck." I can't count the number of times I would gain momentum—developing new customers or clients, making money, moving forward—and then the plateau or, worse, the slipping backward would commence, and I would be ready to quit! That "zoom-eeeek" pattern of running headlong, then brick-wall stasis plagued me. Feast or famine, full-steam ahead or wear the brakes out... I couldn't seem to move out of stuck and into true growth.

If you're familiar with the pattern, you may be ready to quit, too, to give up on the dream or the promise or the idea that drew you to the business at the start. Here are some things to think about as you ponder how to move from zoom/eeeek to consistent growth and momentum.

First, don't think of Stuck as a desert. It feels dry, dusty, and lifeless like the Sahara, but in truth Stuck is a courtyard, a waiting room.  

I've been meditating on a verse from Jeremiah—Jeremiah 33:3—"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." (NKJV)  A beautiful promise, but what I'd never noticed before was where Jeremiah received this word.  Back up to verse 1, and scripture says,

While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—The LORD is his name: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (NIV)

Jeremiah was confined. Stuck. His lack of "success" as we might define it must have worried him, yet the LORD continued to speak to and through him, even in the courtyard of Stuck. 

Your/My Stuck is not death nor desert. God still speaks, and He will reveal great and mighty things IF we pay attention and do not lose heart.

Second, Stuck is not permanent. In later verses in Jeremiah 33, God promises that a time is coming when "the sounds of joy and gladness will return... For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before." Stuck is a good time to review, to examine what needs to be corrected, improved, disposed. Thought habits, inconsistency, and help in areas that are not your strengths are all correctible if identified and dealt with.

Third, Stuck may be preparing you for something much better.  In verses 15-16 of Jeremiah 33, the Lord says, "In those days and at that time, I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land," predicting the coming Messiah. 

Stuck could be an indication that this—business, activity, content, art—is not the end product, but a stepping stone or preview of what is to come. Then the promise of "great and mighty things you do not know" truly is fulfilled!

Don't let STUCK keep you stuck. There is a promise of better things to come.