LIFE IN A PICKLE

MY FRIEND HAS AN EMPLOYEE with great potential, but who is, in a word, unreliable. When my friend speaks of this young woman, I can hear her pain. Employees like this are real heartbreakers. They bring to mind that old struggle between “can she?” and “will she?”

HER EMPLOYEE OBVIOUSLY CAN, but for some reason the desire and discipline to follow through are missing. It’s not just the office. The young woman has her whole life in a pickle.

I CAN RELATE TO BOTH my friend and the young woman. My earliest working days were awash in self pity. No job used the abilities that my imagination and my grades in school made me think I was entitled to. I didn’t think in terms of earning my stripes. I made sure I took every sick day I accrued. Vacations were taken as quickly as possible. I showed up for work sleepy and sometimes cranky from watching the late, late movie on TV. I warmed my chair, waiting for the ten o’clock break. And I never found pleasure in my work.

I WAS NOT ALONE. Most people work at jobs that bring them no joy.

SHOULD THEY QUIT and find something that brings them pleasure? There are probably no jobs that can do that . . . because most people don’t bring pleasure TO their jobs.

COLOSSIANS 3:23-24 PUTS IT SO WELL. When I accept a job, I need to put myself into it as done for the Lord . . . I serve Him. He’s in charge of my inheritance.

I HAVE THE CHOICE of being happy or unhappy with my work, and I bring that attitude with me. I was created to work—all of us are. Even Adam had a job in the Garden of Eden. No one can find joy without purpose.

AND THAT PURPOSE? Here again, the Bible is very clear. Our purpose is service. Once my friend’s employee begins to measure her day in those terms, she will automatically become reliable. She will know what she does is important—not just to those she helps—but to God.

UNTIL THEN, she will be unhappy and unreliable . . . and very likely unemployed.

You’re blessed. Be a blessing!