Changing Times
Someone I worked with years ago regularly mentioned how much they didn’t like change. They didn’t talk about why, just that they didn’t like it. I wasn’t sure what to make of that kind of blanket statement and it appeared that the other people we worked with didn’t either as it usually brought conversation to a halt.
The only understanding I could draw from his perspective was a steadfast level of resistance at the core of his being that probably remains immovable to this day.
While his commitment to not budging from his position warranted at least a smidge of admiration, resistance as a general operating mechanism for one’s life almost literally gets us nowhere. Not being willing to work with change eliminates so much from our lives: creativity; growth; new or deepening relationships; excitement and joy. The list goes on, but we need to be willing to see more ahead of us, and to let go of what is sure, but no longer serves us.
Seasonal change is a practice point for accepting change. You also have the option of adapting a little, i.e., letting go of some resistance to what is happening around you and finding something enjoyable about it. It is autumn again, has been for almost a month on the calendar, but in my neck of the woods, it is beginning to look and feel like autumn means business. Today we had a high temperature of fifty-eight degrees, overcast skies, some rain and a little wind. If you are lamenting the summer warmth, I understand that. If you can’t quite embrace the fog and mist, I get that too. But the leaves are still brilliantly, brightly colored, the tree branches more visibly framing them against the sky. There is something wonderful in being able to observe the majesty of this shift, even if you aren’t a fan of all that it brings.
As people of faith, it is important to remember that the inevitability of change, and our resistance to it, is always held in the truth of God’s changelessness. God is steadfast, always the same, from everlasting to everlasting. Our resistance to change, at whatever level, is simply met by God with Being. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28
Work Satisfaction
How satisfied are you with your work?
Whether or not your present position is what you intended for yourself, assuming you show up regularly and make a contribution, it is serving you in some way or multiple ways.
Jesus seemed pleased to get up each day and get to work. He enjoyed engaging people, helping them and training his disciples to expand his work beyond his immediate interactive reach. I don’t know how much strategic thinking he put into this, but he appears to have consistently responded to those he served with grace, dignity and power.
And that can’t have always been easy, given the political, religious and cultural structures within which he lived and worked. Those clashes that we are able to see feel more and more to me like sacred, clarifying moments, not dissimilar to what you and I face too. His work was simple, straightforward and responsive to human need. But it was not always easy.
Satisfying, but definitely not easy.
Handcrafted Closet Cleaning
What does handcrafting your faith feel like?
Handcrafting your faith is like cleaning out a closet you walk by every day, but keep avoiding opening the door because you know there is A LOT of work behind it you simply don’t want to face.
Then, one day, you tell yourself you have the courage to just look inside, even if you immediately shut the door again.
But, in opening the door, you catch a glimpse of a long-forgotten book or dish, once cherished, and now remembered. You don’t need to struggle or give up anything, you just need to hold and cherish it once again.
What have you cherished about your faith that you would like to hold once again?
Increasing Faith
What expectations did Jesus have of those he taught and led??
My sense is that he hoped for their ability to respond from where they were, and to grow in their learning and practices. That seems fairly straight forward to me, and the disciples appear to have done quite a good job in the time they spent with Jesus.
As apprenticeship programs go, Jesus created a pretty solid combination of individual, small group and experiential opportunities for them. He also included public speaking, service projects and a few field trips designed to try out their new skill set on their own.
The true work, and success, of any teacher or leader, is for those we serve to outgrow us and move forward with increasing faith to new roles and places.
What expectations do you have of those you teach and lead?
Look Both Ways
There is a good reason we were taught to pay attention before crossing the street: traffic comes from two directions.
It’s a great habit to bring into our professional lives as leaders and supervisors, this recognition that we are often drawn into a situation through a single perception or bit of information. That can easily distract us, moving us out of the full picture of what is actually going on.
This can become the stuff of rabbit holes.
I learned the practice of looking in the opposite direction years ago while watching the news and consistently hearing opinions expressed and repeated as facts, coming to the conclusion that something was missing. What was missing was objectivity, the full range of information about the topic and a dialogue between the sides of an issue.
What Jesus brought to his work as a religious leader, supervisor and teacher was a voice and perspective that encouraged more curiosity, questions and dialogue from his disciples and from the larger groups of people with whom he worked.
Jesus specialized in this skill with the Jewish religious authorities, the latter of which being revered as the only religious authority. He wasn’t interested in mocking or cornering these men who held the sacred nature of Jewish life for their people.
He wanted to open up space for more God in everybody’s everyday life. Looking both ways, indeed, looking all around, seeing what is going on, what matters, is the way to do this.
You and I can do this as leaders in our work places right now. We can encourage curiosity, questions and increased awareness in those we supervise by modeling this in our own way of being and presenting ourselves.
Considering your own circumstances, how would you like to encourage those you supervise in this way?
Praying
In the three years of Jesus’ recorded public ministry, he spent a good amount of time in prayer. Especially so in the early morning and late at night, the still points in his day. Perhaps those times are special to you for the same purpose.
Jesus prayed for the same kinds of things you and I do, very human desires that make life more comfortable, better and simply easier. He prayed for the people around him in whatever state of being they found themselves at the time they met. And, he prayed for the people closest to him with whom he shared his work. Jesus prayed for the disciples every day, at every turn, that God would strengthen them, guide them and protect them.
Prayer is such an incredibly accessible and powerful tool in living our faith each day, sharing it with others in the most important way possible. While prayer affirms and builds lives, it also creates community and changes our worlds for the better.
It’s not a big stretch to see the opportunity that praying for those we supervise affords our workplaces. In doing so, just as Jesus did, we affirm and build lives, creating community that changes our work environments for the better.
Do you pray for those within the scope of your leadership? If so, do you see the difference it makes?