Have you ever filled out one of those job surveys that purportedly tell you the job you'd most be suited to doing? A scantron with the amazing powers of observation - a scientifically proven method of determining temperment and skill set to best utilize the skills and education you've obtained. Have you ever noticed how much you bristle when someone asks you what you do for a living, as if this somehow sums up who you are and your value to society?
But we're MUCH smarter than a scantron, aren't we? We all left high school and headed off to our prospective careers without ever changing our mind, didn't we? Of course not. Because we, unlike a scantron sheet, have ever differing opinions about what we'd like to be doing. As my brother so famously told his teachers when he was in 3rd grade and he was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, "I want to be a brain surgeon... or a garbage man." I've always secretly wanted to be a truck driver, but I'll keep my day job for now.
Even then, when we find a career that we like and that suits us, we quickly lose our joy in doing the work. It becomes work. It becomes toil. It is a painful reminder that our best dreams are only mere shadows of true happiness. Even the best tasks on the planet, leave us unfulfilled and frustrated. They may pay big money, or provide lots of travel opportunities, or fill our sense of pride, or command great respect, or just keep the food on the table, but no matter what, they are just jobs. Jobs that we choose to do.
But God laughs at both scantron and our own choice of living. He knows that we don't have a clue as to who we really are or what we are truly capable of doing or becoming. He knows the number of hairs on our head, how much better is He at determining what our best job would be? The only caveat to God's perfect resume for our lives is that He's not concerned with our advancement up some corporate ladder. He wants us to advance in life, to advance in love, and to advance in Him.
For myself, I somehow ended up working as a product manager at an import/export company. I also am writing a novel and learning how to work with film in hopes of being a producer someday. The only occupational skill test I ever took was for the Navy and they desperately wanted me to run Nuclear Power plants (I told them in true 60's Hippie Fashion, "Hell no, I won't glow!" ;) But God has me singing, playing handbells, and joyfully running around like a teenage maniac while dodging footballs being thrown at my head. I'm not quite sure what skill set is required for this job, but I find that the job suits me in a way that nothing else does. Its like He knows me better than I do myself.
As I head off for Westminster Woods Christian camp tomorrow morning to help them build a brand new playground, I can't help but ponder the journey that God has nudged me into taking so that I might be here right now serving Him in this manner. Though I have gone to a four year school and gotten a degree and attended many Navy training classes and spent years sludging away in the business world, it is a skill set I learned in youth group that best serves me now to do the job that gives me the most joy in my heart. God knew then what I would need to know now and He provided me with the training.
I can't wait to see what sort of job awaits me once I perfect the Christian TV Theme Songs skill. ;)
2 comments:
C'mon...as if you have to ask...
...lyricist!
To paraphrase Barry Manilow...
"I write the songs that make the whole world cringe..."
But seriously, it is funny how God puts it all into focus for us. God has given you (and me) employers who have been fair and good to us, and it's as if He's saying, "Don't worry about income - these (pointing to our life outside work) are the things you need to do for me."
Have fun in Sebastopol.
Here you go, dude.
No charge.
Cheers.
Post a Comment