Monday, April 20, 2015

Its Monday....Again

Sometimes its just Monday again. I know what Monday means. The beginning of another long week of work and kids and looking forward to Sunday. Once Monday is over, we can focus on the rest of the days, until Monday rolls around again.

My Monday started with rain, running errands and dropping off a resume. I never had any expectation with this resume, just that I was going to run inside this church, drop it off, maybe (hopefully) make a great first impression, then head home to write.  Wow, did God have a different plan for me this morning. 

I stepped into the office and was greeted with a room full of people.  Someone said "can I help you?", in that "you are interrupting us" voice. Uh-oh. Strike one. I said, as politely as I could, "I was informed there may be a secretary job coming open and was interested in applying. "....

"You're too late", said the voice, and pointed to not one, but two ladies who sat giving me a once over, then giggling in their chairs. Strike Two

AWKWARD. As disappointment washed over me, I said Thank You and started to leave. The sweet lady at the desk spoke up with a "Well, we could at least take her resume...". I handed my resume to the voice, said Thank You to her and promptly left. 

Guess what happened next? I burst into tears of embarrassment and shame. Strike Three.

Its not even 11 as I write this, and I cannot help to think back on a chapter in a book I read that talked about the attitude Christians have and how that is a big reason for others to not want to get to know Jesus. I was not treated very nicely or Christ-like this morning. Maybe that is just "the voices" way, but it was hurtful to be made to feel as if I did something wrong and was interupting. 

Christian people- we need to get our acts together! I know there are times when I have hurt people- completely unintentionally. But I had to find a way to follow up with an apology, a humble, deep rooted I am sorry for hurting you. When we hurt other Christians, it cuts them like a knife. We are expected to be more to one another, to take care of one another, to nourish and support one another. We are expected by Christ to be Christ-like. But we have a hard time with this. Why all the competition? Why must we make people feel unworthy?

Making people feel unworthy is not what being a Christ follower is about. There is no room for making someone feel their work, their prayers, their hope and their worship isn't good enough. Only God himself gets to decide that. When we start making decisions about the ministry of others, we have overstepped our bounds completely. When we start intentionally deciding if specific people are going to participate in the way we minister to our families, to our churches, to the world, then we start unraveling all the good that has been woven up to that point. When we make decisions about people and their intentions, and we do not even ask those people, we have the potential to crush their spirit. Why do we let this continue to happen in our churches and in our ministries? How do we become less of a victim?

I do not have any answers to any of these questions, except to dive into scripture and make sure that every decision is biblically based and every person is given equal time to be a part of what Christ wanted- his ministry and church to grow and be a solid foundation for people to hold onto.

1 comment:

  1. So sorry for what happened to you. Praying you find the perfect job for you and praying for those who treated you so poorly. We (Christians) can do so much better. If they will know we are Christians by our love then we need to walk in it daily.

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