Recently, in a conversation, a friend shared this story with me.
When she first started her new job, for a short season, in New York, a man told her not to get too focused on "the job,” because your job is your job, not necessarily your purpose or your calling.
What a wonderful piece of advice. It is truly the Lord’s wisdom. Learning to accept and apply it? Now, that is an entirely different matter, particularly at work.
I have become increasing dissatisfied with the mundane tasks of my job. The routine is sucking the very life’s blood out of me. The job itself is not a bad job, and I am good at what I do. If the issue is not the job itself, then what is the problem?
You see, I feel like many of you may feel. I want more. I don't want to sit behind a desk for the rest of my life. I want to matter. I want to make more of a difference in more peoples’ lives. Worse, I have allowed my negativity and dissatisfaction to rub off on others. I say and do things that have a negative impact, instead of a positive and Godly one. Bottom line, it isn't the job, and it isn’t the people around me. I have realized that the problem is ME.
I have fallen into that horrific lie that Satan often uses to discourage us, that doing is more important than being. The devil has worked overtime trying to convince me that my self-worth is tied to my doing. And, I am not doing enough to please God.
Isn’t it ironic that we live in a society that is constantly on the go? Our identities are wrapped up in what we do or don't do. When in reality, it is about who we are or could be. Now, I am not suggesting that we should be lazy and become couch potatoes, and just stay home and allow someone else to pay the bills. Quite the contrary, I am recognizing that my job is a means of making money to survive. It should not define who I am or who you are. Our jobs, often, just help us pay our bills. And for those of you who ARE doing what you absolutely love to do? You are definitely blessed and highly favored and you are living your dreams…the ones Papa gave you.
For the rest of us, we must learn to separate ourselves from our work. We do our jobs “as unto the Lord.” We work as though we are serving and loving Him. Should we dare to dream? I do.
My heart is overflowing with dreams: Knowing Him as He knows me, loving and serving others, writing and photography, being an excellent wife, traveling, and did I mention, writing?
I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. And, with Papa’s grace and mercy, I am embracing a NEW me. I no longer listen to the father of lies telling me that I will never be anything more than a desk clerk. One condemning statement after another, he throws at me.
“You will never have your dreams.”
“Yes, I will.”
“No, you are nothing more than a desk clerk.”
“No, I am more than a conqueror.”
I choose to believe my Papa.
Psalm 37:4 states very clearly to “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” If you have put your dreams on the shelf, reach up and get them. Dust them off, and choose “transformation leading to restoration” as promised in Romans 12: 1. If you are still breathing, it is not too late.
I am writing this post to, hopefully, be an encouragement to some of you, who may feel exactly the same way I have felt. I have been my own worst enemy, listening to lie after lie and living in self-condemnation.
Once again, I choose Papa’s promises. ..a thousand times a day if I must.
“My heart is filled with dreams, Papa. Please grant me the wishes my heart is making?”
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