Indicators

Leading indicators are useful.  Yet, I find myself questioning how and where we use them.  Are they always reliable?  What do they tell us in the definitive versus the indicative?  Should one blindly depend on the message?  I know that the answer is no times three, however when one does not take the indicators as blind truth how does one defend themselves from the questions that naturally come later when the story drafted by the indicators proves to be true?
I would like to suggest that indicators fall into two distinct categories.  First, they are indicators of positive truth.  An example of this is what happened when one community worked together.  In their case, “it turned out that not a person among them was needy.”  (Acts 4.34)  This is a leading indicator of something wonderfully unique.  Alternatively, they warn of a potential negative event to come.  The current credit crisis, spiking settlement transaction failures in our business, or simply the number of emails flooding our customer service email box are example. 
I find myself looking at the categories and realizing that my response to the indicators is divided.  When the indicators positive tell of good events to come, my response is to encourage and cheers for the individuals involved.  Even if I do not fully understand or agree, good can only come from good. 
Alternatively, when the indicators paint a warning sign of the future my response takes on a very different form.  First, I find myself retreating into Divinity's arms, hopeful that I can remain and be renewed to engaged in life.  Second, I hope that I can and will embrace actions of compassion, community, and mercy with renewed commitment.  Third, I strive to be engaged as a source of hope and change.  This combination allows me to be fully and completely in the moment at hand.  Bad events may emerge.  If they do, I will have responded with the right actions.  If they do not, I will still have engaged in a hope filled way.
Awareness is never about retreat; it is about living.