Easy To Forget
I just spent some great time this past week with my wife’s extended family in Gatlinburg TN. We had 23 people gathered together and were able to spend several days hanging out over Thanksgiving! I’m sure many of you have a much bigger family get together than this, but for us this was a big deal because all of us haven’t been together in one place in a very long time!
But it’s easy for me to take for granted gatherings like this as well as things around us that we see everyday, day in and day out. Like my wife, my family, food, shelter, heat, transportation, etc..
But not my job.
My job is one of those things I used to take for granted. It is rare now that I do. It has been just over a year that I have been working in a new job, in a new industry, learning new terms and new ways of doing business.
But it wasn’t that long ago I was out of work, working multiple side jobs, interviewing, hustling, praying, and searching to find what my next permanent assignment was going to be. I was on the bench for14 months! What a time it was for me. I don’t often forget that time, for me it serves as a great daily reminder as to what I didn’t have and what I do have today.
Have you stopped to think about your job lately? All that it provides? We typically look at the things that bring us down at our workplace. This is the built in attitude satan wants us to have. We look at management woes, systems problems, co-workers who don’t pull their weight, etc.
What are some of the good things happening in our vocation?
Do we have flexibility in when and where we can work? Is our pay rate enough that our needs are being met (food, shelter, etc.)? Do we get vacation time? What about healthcare benefits?
Often times we overlook these things because they seem so automatic. They are always there and we forget about having them in the first place.
As a Real Christian Businessman, how do you think everyone’s attitude and productivity would be at our workplace if everyone were looking at the things we have at work in a thankful way instead of via all the things we think we deserve?
Let’s be different this week! Let’s try and show an “attitude of gratitude” towards our work as Zig Ziglar would say and see how different our work lives can be.
We don’t have anything to lose if we try this do we?
“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1Th 5:18 (NIV)