Chances are, we work for the most part of our days. Let me repeat, WE SPEND MOST OF OUR DAY WORKING. For those of us that work outside the home, we usually give our most energetic and productive time to our job. This means that our co-workers and supervisors become our extended family. The work that we do becomes the activity we constantly engage in day after day. Therefore, if we work in an environment of negative, ungodly, bossy, and self-righteous people doing something that gives us no personal satisfaction or worth, we are essentially wasting our lives! Unfortunately, we aren’t helping ourselves or anyone else. That’s not really a good thing because we are supposed to be living our lives as Christian witnesses. How can we witness about how good God is when we exhibit misery daily?
I worked for several years at a job that gave me no satisfaction whatsoever! I eventually went into survival mode. The thing that saved me was the fact that I realized life was too short to live that way. Desperately, I began to pray. I mean “the drop down on your knees and cry out to God daily” kind of praying! The trouble was that I had a degree in business, but I hated working in business! I wanted to make a real difference in the lives of children. God heard my prayers and saw my desperation. He allowed me to go back to college and do what I should have done the first time around. But hey, who listens to their mother as a teenager, right?
If you are like I was and have found yourself unhappy with your job, wanna know what happens next? You eventually go into survival mode. “What does this look like,” you might ask.
Picture this, You:
- Crawl out of bed with a voice of exhaustion.
- Begrudgingly throw on work clothes.
- Drive to work thinking how much you dread the day ahead with THOSE people.
- Walk in the door and realize the place gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach.
- Proceed to your work area wishing you wasn’t there.
- Continually stare at the clock to see how much longer you have until it’s time to go home.
- Keep your head down and talk to as few people as possible.
- Are completely miserable.
- Feel like a fish out of the ocean.
- Have no pride in your work.
- Have zero passion about what you are working on.
- After work, you eat supper and watch a little television.
- Are too stressed and irritated to interact with your family.
- Sleep, but never enough.
- Wake up to do it all over again in the morning!
What is it that you “really” do all day? Life is made up of minutes, hours, days, weeks, years…and so on. How have you mostly spent the last 365 days of your life? What did you accomplish as a Christian? Were you happy or was the whole year basically wasted? You know you’re not getting that time back, right?
It’s true, life isn’t supposed to be all about what makes us happy. However, as Christians, God has given us everything we possibly need to make us happy. Thus, we must consider why we find ourselves living a miserable life. Are we where God intended for us to be? I’m certain I wasn’t and that’s why God made me so miserable. He used misery to get my attention and enough of it to cause me to take action!
I’m currently near retirement and I cannot imagine having a better, more productive Christian life than I have been blessed with as a teacher. This job has paid me far more in experiences than it has in salary. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God placed me in this position. I feel fulfilled and I take pride in my work. My days are never the same, but they always include growth.
Let me encourage you to take a hard look at your life and ask yourself if you are where God wants you to be. Consider the talents that he has given you and the desires of your heart. If you are miserable, chances are that he made you that way so that you would be willing to move to where he is leading you. You know by now that the next step is sincere, heartfelt prayer. When you call out to God, he will not fail to answer. It’s my prayer that you make the most out of the rest of your life!
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
Until God moves you, y’all stay kind and smile real big!
