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Any CEO will tell you the key to building a successful business is to think big and begin with the end in mind, meaning know where you’re going tomorrow.
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Take Amazon, for example. Twenty-five years ago, Jeff Bezos began selling books online.
But his vision was to create a digital mall, where customers could search for any product – not just books – and Amazon would deliver it.
This year alone, Amazon will deliver an estimated 2.5 billion packages around the world.
Key to Amazon’s success has been thinking big, keeping the end in mind.
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In our first reading, the prophet Isaiah describes the end of days. It isn’t a time of war; it’s a time of peace.
“The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,” he says. “We shall beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.”
This is God’s promise to us, that one day we shall live in peace.
During times like this, when COVID cases are surging, unemployment remains high, and a general sense of anxiety grips our world, we must remember the end.
Peace is on the horizon.
Advent is a time for us to pause and ponder this truth; to consider how we can make Isaiah’s prophecy a reality, starting in our own hearts and homes.
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So, how can I bring peace to others around me?
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Keep the end in mind. Peace is coming.
May everything we do today assist in making that happen.