License to Wed, Strategic Planing for Information Systems and Ministering

Q: What do these three have in common?

A: Take people from where they are, and build from there.

This is a very strong theme for me these two days coz I watched License to Wed last night and attended lecture this morning. License to Wed, while certains I won't agree about it, has a dominant theme of communication. But what i saw was the priest meeting the couple at their level, with their faults and weaknesses, and try to build them up to be a better couple and also as an individual. Strategic IS planning is no different. No one likes to be told that their work process or system sucks. So the only way is to build on the existing with what goodness exists, while in the process, do some housekeeping and trimming of the fat.

How have we approached our brothers and sisters when we challenge them? Are we first judging them and using our standards and what we think is right to tell them off? Or are we lovingly working with them, however disparate they are from our angelic standards?

Lord, help us be compassionate people. May we constantly be aware of our own shortcomings and that we too are far off from your standard, so that we may minister to others with loving kindness and compassion as you do to us. Amen.