So if we’re going to live rooted, purposeful lives, we must embrace a foundation of truth. For me this comes from embracing integration of my three primary truths as a basis for all I live and work for. First that there are indeed Moral truths that I should strive to embody. Second, that there are social/political truths that must guide the way I conduct myself in society. An lastly, that I am a Mind, a Body and a Spirit that I must strive to keep integrated and whole. All of this leads us to need a new model to guide our life and work.
I call this the REPO Model.
R - Reflect
E - Engage
P - Plan
O - Own
A lot of people laugh or scoff at the acronym for repo. The thought that comes to mind is some guys taking your car in the middle the night. Repossession is seen in a negative light, of course no one wants to lose something they “own“, but in this case if you owe the bank money on car did you really own it? The answer is no!
I think the opposite is true. I think repossession is an apt description of what we need to do with our lives and work. We have loaned our life out to a deadbeat world, and we are failing time and again to make the payments. We’re fooled into a tech driven consumerism, or a politically driven need for Utopia, or a modern mobility-driven need for acceptance. What do we really get? Dis-integration. Our tech-driven brains get no rest. Our politically-minded ideas don’t get good outcomes. Our mobility leads to a lack of roots in the community and it taxes, if not destroys, our key relationships.
So the need for a new model is clear. Now let’s discuss what the components mean;
Reflect. We have to take time to reflect on what matters to us, our families, our community, and the legacy we will leave. We have to know in order to commit. We have to spend time in prayer, meditation and solitude to connect to our unique WHY. My pastor Chris Hodges sums it up well when he says if “we lose our why, we’ll lose our way”.
Engage. We have to engage and embrace those around us to live out our WHY. If it is not meaningful enough to lead us to engagement, then it is just selfish and will lead to loneliness and stress. Engaging with others will help us clarify the WHO. Who we are, as well as who is really important to us.
Plan. Without a plan, everything we glean in the first two Stages will be a wish, not a purpose. The old saying goes “ failing to plan is planning to fail”, and the only real way to fail is not to do anything. Our plans will clarify the WHAT and the HOW.
Own. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and our family. We have to stare down the abyss of resistance and potential failure and move forward.
This Model is not sequential, or linear. It is also not Rational, especially in today’s world. As we reflect, we may change how we engage. As we engage we may change our plans. As we plan, we may find new ways to engage. As we own our actions and our purpose, we may reflect on new plans. This Model is built to embrace the mixed-scanning mental Model approach we discussed in an earlier post {LINK}. In our next posts we’ll talk about how we put the REPO Model in action to repossess our lives and renew out hearts and minds. As the apostle Paul wrote over 2,000 years ago, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 NIV
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