Worth Keeping

As a District Manager, its my job to make the hard decisions of disciplinary action. And, over the last 2 months, I've had to let someone go, do a few write ups, and choose when to do what. Of course, my decisions are impacted and directed by my supervisor and the owner of the company, but when it comes down to it, I'm the one who has to do the dirty work. They tell me what to do, and I execute.

Something I have quickly learned is the huge difference between an employee you want to keep and one that you don't. Let me explain:

An employee that has not been productive, is late, has drama follow them around, and is more trouble than they are worth, is very likely to be the one that you terminate when they make a mistake that's on the line between maybe and absolutely. I had one such employee recently that made a decision that could have been handled with a write up, or could've been a cause for termination. And, when it came to it, she was fired. Why? She hadn't made herself valuable enough to the company to let her slide by on a write up. When it gets to that point, business owners are waiting for a good reason to get rid of someone.

An employee that is productive, is timely, is consistent, dependable, pleasant and responsible becomes someone you want to keep. And when they make a fatal mistake that could go either way, you opt to keep them. And, even though termination has been threatened for such a mistake, you let them go on a write up. It has nothing to do with which employee you life better or who you have a better personal connection with. It all comes down to who is more valuable to you.

When you pursue your calling, you will be one of these two employees. Now, God won't fire you from your calling, but depending on how reliable and consistent you are, He will give you more or less responsibilities. For me, its simplest to explain this in the role of a prophet. In church, God taps you on the shoulder and says "go, tell the pastor that I say that I have a whole field of goats for him." And you think 'ok that's crazy, but its worth a shot' and you do it. The pastor is overwhelmed because that meant something to him, and you did your job well. So God adds to your responsibility and gives you a word for the woman at the supermarket. He says 'tell that woman that her son is way better than George Clooney.' You decide not to say anything, because its out of context and insane. But here's the thing - that lady needed to hear it! So, He sends someone else on assignment, some other time, to say something that means the same thing to her.

You see, its not you that makes the difference, its God using you as an instrument. In fact, if you are ever praying with a group of prophets, you will (many times) have 2 or 3 of them start in to say the same thing at the same time. There have been times I've been at a prayer meeting and I wait to say something and then I hear another prophet say EXACTLY what I was about to say.

God will accomplish His works regardless of if you are on board or not. So, it comes down to this: Do you want the job? If you want the job, then do what He tells you to, as soon as He tells you to do it. If you do, He will give you more responsibility and use you more frequently because you have made yourself valuable to Him as a prophet (or pastor or teacher or whatever). If you choose not to, He will always have that door open for you, but He won't use you nearly as frequently because He wants to get the job done. You make your talents as a prophet (pastor, teacher, etc) replaceable. Now, don't get me wrong, you can do what He tells you to do better than anyone else can. There's a reason He told you to do it first. But, if you don't listen, He will get someone else to do it.

While I'm Waiting

Sometimes, I feel like I'm barely able to tread water anymore. I feel like its all I can do to gasp for air between falling back beneath the surface, doing all I can do to stay alive. Its like I can't catch a break, I can't get enough strength mustered up to swim to safety, but I haven't quite given up and decided to die.

Life is entirely this way for me, more times than not. And I am confident that everyone has felt this way at one point or another. Those times that you sit back from circumstances and say "Really, Lord? Are you done yet?" And maybe that's selfish and childish but let's face it, we've all been there.

Maturity is when you come to those points and decide to grit your teeth and walk through it anyway. It is a character defining moment when you step back and look at how badly life stinks and choose to deal with it anyway. If you're like me, I don't always want to be mature. I don't want to muster up the strength to swim back up to the surface and gasp another breath and continue fighting. I'd rather just let go and give up, curl up and feel sorry for myself. There are points that I get angry with God and tell Him to take a hike and to let me be - that I've had enough of His plan and I'll just do things my own way. And then, a few days later, I come back, humbled, and admit I really do need His help to make it through.

The thing is that God doesn't expect us to handle our life without occasionally feeling down and out. He realizes what we're going through, He understands because He's been there personally and has experienced it. And while that may not make you feel any better, it is true. And for me? Its a big deal to know that its okay for me to be mad and frustrated with the process. The process of getting to wherever it is that you're going is guaranteed to be the most difficult process that you will ever face. And if you're pursuing your true calling, its absolutely going to be as tough as it gets.

Take it as encouragement, take it as a wake-up call, whatever you want to call it - its all just truth. If you're having a tough time, then you're heading the right way. Whats the hardest part of heading the right way? Going anyways, knowing you're going to keep getting beat down. That's maturity, and that's following God. He didn't say to pick up your picnic basket and follow Him. A cross is a heavy thing, that's painful to carry, and is downright impossible feeling at times. No one promised this would be skipping through the flower fields, but somehow we've all got it in our heads that things shouldn't be so hard. We're fighting a whole myriad of things - evil forces, ourselves, other people, bloodlines, etc etc etc, and those are all going to just make it harder.

I guess what I'm saying is that God knows its hard, but He picked the right person for the job and you absolutely have the ability and potential to fulfill your calling, no matter how hard it is while you're waiting to finish line.