Jesus & your Job

What a perfect message for me! This past Sunday it was great to hear Nancy talk about working. She made it a point to say that it wasn't a talk about all things related to your job and Jesus. But her main point was how your job is a gift from God. That we often look at the negative aspects of working. How it distracts from the more valued things in life. How it's not what we really want to be doing. How people at and our workplace is a grind. So this Sunday I got to ponder the aspect of our work and our job and our workplace as being a gift. Of course, I'm not working right now so it was all a bit theoretical for me at this point. But it helped me gain perspective while I'm looking for the 'perfect' job.

So two main things Nancy emphasized. That we are called and designed to 1) do meaningful work and 2) have relationships. Meaningful work. It was nice to hear about the nobility of serving. It doesn't matter what position we have whether it's at the top or the bottom or the middle. We can all serve the company and the people around us in some capacity. And in the end, we have an audience of one. Relationships. It more than just building them for the benefit of the work or the company. It's because we are there to really know people and to exhibit love. Nancy shared how there was an ER doctor she had worked with who knew many details of the life of the man who worked in the janitorial services who would come in after medical care was rendered to clean up the room.

Service in what I do. I think that statement is much more broad than I had previously interpreted. There are so many ways to serve. It's not only the specifics of our job. But in more subtle ways. And when we work...we don't just do it for that raise or the next promotion. Or to impress our co-workers. But we do it because we were designed to our best regardless of what it is we're doing. I thought about that as I am working in retail. Not that I ever thought I was above it. But I certainly didn't place great value on what I was doing. I was not putting any heart into the work. I never wanted to be there. I always wanted to leave. Sure, I would do good work while I was there, but not with a good attitude. I did good work because it was easy or even brainless to me. But I should be doing my best while I'm there because that is what I am called to do. And that my effort reflects my character. And my character should be constant...not come out at certain times. I am created to do meaningful work. And I can do meaningful work no matter what it is I do.

I was reminded the other day how it is so great just to be known. In my quest for finding a job, I stumbled upon an old law school friend of mine. The name was familiar. Since lots of websites have pictures of their employees, I got to put a face with the name and confirmed that indeed, here was an old law school friend. Granted, we didn't hang out at the bars and we didn't study together...but we worked together for a little bit and I surely remembered him. So I emailed the standard..."hope you remember me" email. And to my great joy...he said he did remember me. Of course, I would not have been surprised had he not remembered me because we weren't drinking buddies or anything. But certainly, I have to tell you that it really really brightened my day just to know that he remembered me. And it reminded me how much value there is to just being known. Like the doctor in Nancy's past, there is no different value placed on a person simply because of their position or their function. People come into our lives everyday and we gloss over them as if they didn't matter. Not to say that we must delve into the personal aspects of every one's lives. But there is so much to communicate that goes beyond words when we simply and sincerely get to know those who work around and among us. And we spend so much of our lives at work, around the same group of people day in and day out. Do we take the time out to know who is around us. I confess I'm not good at that. I have a flawed memory so much so that I know I have to write things down or I forget. But I want to be sincere and proactive about knowing people around me. I won't force it. But I definitely want to be better at getting to know people around me.

I hope to find meaningful work. I hope to find meaning in and at my work. And I hope to invest in those people around me so that I can get to know them beyond "Hi, how are you" because I know that I want to be known more that that.