Work, Worry & Warts
Posted by Ercille Christmas at 3/21/2009 5:01 PM 
Categories: Spiritual
Tags: Administration;prayer;unemployment;America;politics;bonuses
Categories: Spiritual
Tags: Administration;prayer;unemployment;America;politics;bonuses
You are sitting at your desk trying to do your job to the best of your ability, but cannot help thinking when the axe will fall, and upon whom. You have heard the rumors for days now, that the company is in deep doodoo. One executive even left rather hurriedly, but not before picking up a suitcase with his bonus money. Actually the grapevine said that the money was deposited into his checking account. How do folks find out these things? You are wondering bonus for what? Isn't a bonus given for doing a good job, and the company overall is doing well, because of your contribution?
Then you remember. This is 21st century America. Bonuses are handed out to executives precisely because the company is not doing well! You should have had a V8, as that ad used to declare when one experienced a "senior moment!"
So after that momentary lapse into office politics, you try to regain focus and decide that no matter what, you are here to do a job, and you will do it! The thoughts return. You have a spouse and kids to help to support. One kid has a birthday coming up. You begin bargaining with God. "God, if you let me keep this job at least until after little Billy's birthday party, I will never tell another lie!" I mean really, how do you tell a five-year old kid that the birthday party that had been planned for weeks, could be postponed indefinitely, or at least until he turns six?
Your chance to keep that bargain with God, comes sooner than you would have hoped for. A coworker wants to know your opinion of the folks who are doing an apparently successful job of running the company into the ground. God does have a sense of humor. Buddy boy, you want to bargain? Here is your chance.
You begin with the customary company line about being onboard with the policies and then you realize that you and the coworker quizzing you, could be among those to be thrown overboard, and even more importantly, you have made this bargain with God. What is a person to do? You remember in time that God is Almighty and all-knowing. You dust off your memory of that Commandment, about not "bearing false witness." You tell the truth.
You tell the coworker that, in your humble opinion, the inmates should be running the asylum because those in charge are crazier than the inmates! The co-worker is amazed. What has come over you? You, who always agreed with the emperors that they looked fine in those clothes (corporate decisions), when your own eyes were telling you that there was an absence of clothing (planning and strategy)?You, who because of the promise of a bonus, would praise the latest hare-brained scheme to the high heavens, and when it failed as you thought that it would, blamed the heavens for being too low to earth?
Well, you kept your bargain with God. You passed the first test. You now go home to the spouse who is worried. Temptation rears its head. You are about to declare that things look good. Your vow which is beginning to feel like an actual being, is suddenly standing at your side....waiting. You turn temptation aside. You confide in your spouse that little Billy may not have that birthday party.
You get ready for bed. That is when you notice that the spot that had been mildly itching is almost throbbing. Is telling the truth, unaccustomed as you are to it, beginning to manifest itself in hives? There is confirmation next morning. If you are breaking out in hives from the struggle to not easily fall into a lie, as is your habit, should you revert to your natural instinct to tell white lies just to get along? No.
Even if you are laid off, you live up to that bargain. Kids are a lot smarter than we think. If you are honest about it, you will realize that little Billy's party was more about his parents wanting to give him a party, than about him even asking for one. The big affair that was being planned can be scaled back. Toss a few hotdogs on the grill. Put them in some rolls. Add some bags of potato chips. Bring out the soda. Ready. Set. Party. Little Billy and his friends will be happy.
Sometime during that next day at work, armed with your new found satisfaction in doing a simple action such as not lying, you recall that there was a time when God was central in your life. Somewhere along the way, you sacrificed His teachings if they got in the way of your climb up the corporate ladder. You had no qualms about turning around "do unto others as you would like them to do to you,", in your judgment, to the more workable, "do unto others before they do to you."
You decide that since there is a great possibility that you may just have to lean on God quite a bit to get you through possible unemployment, you may as well reacquaint yourself with Him, and hope that He has forgiven you for your neglect. He has. You rediscover reading His word. You are actually beginning to be optimistic about your future.
Your coworkers notice a difference in you. They are assuming that you know something that they don't. You do. You cannot bring up God in the workplace, because as some have begun noting, "God" is now the new four-letter word. But, you take a bold step. You decide to share The Reason for your new-found optimism. Your co-workers are impressed. They want to know more. During break time you tell them more.
The "suits," as they are referred to, deliver the news. A private investor was found. Yes, despite the government being in the business of "investing" in companies, there are still private investors. So, for at least the next six months, if not longer, the company will be in business. This investor is going to have a "meet and greet." He wants to personally interact with the folks who, as he puts it, "are the ones who really make things work." You find out later, again through that reliable grapevine, that he decided to invest in the company because of the dedication, and skill of the workers. He had one stipulation. The "dunderheads" who almost ran the company into the ground, will be elsewhere "pursuing other interests," or running other companies into the ground, whichever is more accurate!
Little Billy is going to have his party, minus the expensive stuff that he could not care less about. You continue to read God's word.
Your favorite passages are:
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Psalm 46:1-3
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Psalm 32:7
7Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Comments