Where are you starting

Photo Credit: allispossible.org.uk Flickr via Compfight cc

​A friend of mine who runs an accounting department was telling me the story of a young associate who was trying for hours and hours to reconcile a bank statement.  The young man had a degree in accounting and a masters in business.  He was a smart guy! 

The young man was getting very frustrated with the work and with himself.  Bank statement reconciliations by their very nature have to work!  There can be identifiable reconciling items...but they must always balance.  That's the point of the exercise.  And yet he was unable to make any sense out of the task.  He decided to give up and try again the next day.

When the associate came in the next day with fresh eyes, he started the task over again in order to check every detail of his work.  It did not take him long to realize that he had used an account balance from the statement of a totally different account!  His starting point was off; so there was no way the reconciliation would have worked  - no matter how hard he worked - no matter how smart he was!

It struck me how important the source of our information is!  No matter how smart we are or how hard we work at something; if the source of our information is wrong, our conclusions will be mistaken and our resulting actions will be misguided!

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. ~Psalm 111:10

For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. ~Proverbs 2:6

Starting in the right place...