95a – Workplace Checkup (Part 1)
Think a minute…Do you like your workplace? Is it a peaceful and productive place to work every day? Just as we need to get a checkup on our body to see if we’re healthy, today and tomorrow let’s get a checkup on our workplace, since we spend so much of our lives there.
The first symptom of an unhealthy workplace is frequent complaining. Employees criticize and trash-talk their company, their fellow workers, managers, customers, or their products and services. They also tell their family, friends, and others outside the company how negative and bad things are on their job.
A second symptom of an unhealthy workplace is when the employees feel overwhelmed, sometimes even hopeless. No matter how hard and fast they work, they can never finish all the tasks they’re expected to do each day. So, they must choose either not to do everything, or just rush to get it all finished but not do it well.
Another symptom is jealous competition and conflict between fellow workers. This gossiping, back-stabbing, and bullying is called “lateral violence”. Sadly, this is a common problem in many workplaces.
A fourth symptom of an unhealthy workplace is one in which employees do not feel appreciated and recognized for their work. The #1 complaint of employees is this: “I can do 100 things right and not hear anything about it, but if I do just one thing wrong, they quickly criticize me and make me feel like a failure.” Studies show that most employees arelooking for more than just a paycheck, they want to feel good about the work they do and that they’re appreciated once in a while for their reliable, quality work.
If you realize your workplace has some of these unhealthy symptoms, why not ask God to help you do what you can to help change it into a healthier, happier place for everyone? Ask Jesus to take charge of your heart and attitude, and He will give you His wisdom, kindness, and strength every day to make a difference where you work. Just think a minute…
95b – Workplace Checkup (Part 2)
Think a minute…Since we spend so much of our life at our workplace, it’s important to see what unhealthy conditions we can start changing to improve our daily lives on the job. Let’s complete our checkup we started yesterday.
A fifth symptom of an unhealthy workplace is “sleep-working”. This is similar to sleepwalking. Your body is there, but your heart and mind is not. Your enthusiasm and expectation of a good career that you first had when you started this job is gone. Now you spend more of your time daydreaming at work, escaping through personal phone calls, the Internet, the coffee or tea room, or other non-work activities. You may have lost all hope of ever being promoted and moving up in your job and career.
Another symptom of an unhealthy workplace is where hardworking, honest go-getters and innovators are criticized, mocked, even punished. Your ideas for improving things are rejected and put down, not only by your fellow workers, but also by your boss and manager. This can become the crippling, crushing effect of the “tall poppy syndrome” that wants to keep everyone down at the same level. Even if the employee who wants to improve is not going to hinder his fellow workers, they still do not want him to succeed at helping the business grow, simply because of their jealousy. Every day you’re surrounded by insecure, lazy, small thinkers who hold you down from achieving the career you could have. Sadly, because they do not want to have the discipline and drive for a better career, they don’t want anyone else to have it either.
The final test in your workplace checkup is to ask yourself: Do I make a difference or do I just make a dollar? At the end of my life, what difference will my life’s work have made? Will I have used my abilities and personality to help improve my family and community?
Today, why don’t you ask the One Who gave you all your abilities to take charge, so you can maximize them for His honor and other people’s good, including your own? Jesus may guide you to a different job; or He may want you to stay at your present workplace. Remember, only He can give you His true wisdom, strength, and love to influence your fellow workers to start changing your work environment into a healthy, happy one for everyone. Just think a minute…
95c – Shortcut to Adulthood
Think a minute…This is the true story of a teenage girl named Vicky who felt she was old enough to have her own room. It did not seem fair that she still had to sleep in the same room with her mother, especially now that she was 18-years-old. Then to Vicky’s shock, just 3 ½ weeks after her 18th birthday her wish came true—but not in the way she ever expected or wanted. Her uncle died, and because of this she finally got a room of her own. Vicky’s happiness was mixed with sadness since she knew the price of her privacy had been the death of her uncle. In fact, she not only got her own room, but a throne, when Vicky the teen became Victoria the Queen of England.
They say, “Be careful what you wish for.” Vicky wanted so much for people to stop treating her like a little girl. Then suddenly in one day she was forced to start carrying the heavy responsibilities of being the Queen of England as a teenager!
Sometimes children are forced to grow up too fast, either through the death of a parent, or because of their parents’ own immaturity and irresponsibility. Consequently, the child has to become his own parent. Tragically, shortcuts to adulthood usually leave you shortchanged in emotional maturity—like picking a fruit too soon before it’s fully ripe and mature.
The world-famous King of Pop, Michael Jackson, said the most autobiographical song he ever wrote, which best described his life, was entitled Childhood. This is what Jackson said in his song: “People say I’m not okay, cause I love such elementary things…It’s been my fate to compensate for the childhood I’ve never known…the painful youth I’ve had…Before you judge me, try hard to love me. Look within your heart, then ask: Have you seen my childhood?”
If you yourself feel somewhat empty or wounded emotionally from not receiving the love and parenting you needed as a child, it can start changing today. If you ask Jesus to take charge of your heart and daily life with His divine love, strength, and wisdom, He can help you complete your own parenting. He will start filling your emptiness, and help you become the secure, happy, and successful man or woman He created you to be. Just think a minute…
95d – What’s Your Name Worth?
Think a minute…The story is told about a band of musicians who traveled from town to town singing and playing their music to make a living. But times were hard and most people did not have the money to spend on concerts.
One evening before their show, the music group discussed their problem and financial future. One of them said: “I cannot see any reason for us to perform tonight. It’s cold and snowing and no one will come out on a night like this.”Another one said: “I agree. Last night we performed for just a few people, and even fewer will come to hear us tonight.”
Then the group leader said: “I’m also discouraged. But we have a responsibility to those who do come. So, we’re going to perform our very best, because our audience should not be punished with anything less than our best.”Encouraged by their leader’s words, that night they gave their best performance ever. After the show, their leader read a note to the band which had been handed to him at the end of the concert. The note said: “Thank you for a beautiful performance.” And it was signed, “Your King.” The band never knew until the concert was over that their king had been in the audience the entire time.
The famous and brilliant Michelangelo went to Florence, Italy to sculpt a beautiful, large statue of King David out of a huge, rough block of white marble. Michelangelo worked long hours every day, often sleeping in his work clothes to save time. He knew that nothing less than the very best of his time, talent, and painful, precise work could produce his masterpiece sculpture of King David.
Even to this day, anything made by Michelangelo is priceless and commands the highest value and honor. Why? Because he worked so hard and diligently every single day to fully develop his natural, God-given talent. Actually, we each paint a portrait of ourselves by the work that we do. When people hear your name and see your work, does it command their respect and honor? Do you sign and autograph your work with excellent quality and reliability? If you will give Jesus control of your heart and daily way of living, He can help you start becoming the masterpiece He created you to be. Just think a minute…
95e – Field of Gold
Think a minute…This is the true story of an Australian man named Jack Smythe. During the mid-1800’s Jack worked as a carpenter until he heard about the Gold Rush in the state of Victoria, southeastern Australia. Soon Jack left the tools of his trade and set out to find his own field of gold.
He worked long and hard, searching in streams and digging holes in hillsides, yet he found nothing. Finally, he was so tired and discouraged that he gave up. But Jack was too proud and embarrassed to go home with nothing, so he picked the most remote place he could find to settle down and simply live off the land.
Yambuk, Victoria was a small abandoned town built over an old empty gold mine. The Gold Rush had ended, both for Jack and this tiny town he now called home. Yambuk had no trees or wood, so the final shame of Jack Smythe’s failure was that he, a skilled carpenter, had to build his final home out of mud.
Tragically, Jack Smythe never knew that the land on which he staked his last claim was rich, fertile farmland. This was only discovered years later after Jack was gone. When his neighbor took over Jack’s land, he decided to tear down Jack’s mud house so he could plant crops there. As the mud bricks crumbled into dust, the neighbor noticed a shiny substance in it: gold! The clay that Jack had dug out of the old mine shaft was actually part of a huge gold deposit.
Suddenly, the empty little town of Yambuk came alive again. In fact, for years it became one of the most prosperous gold-mining areas in Victoria. But it was too late for Jack Smythe. Tragically and ironically, he had already died of starvation in a valley that could grow an abundance of food, and in a house that was worth its weight in gold!
You yourself may not have realized that the life you’ve always wanted is already here for you to fully live and enjoy. Before it’s too late, won’t you ask Jesus to forgive you for your wrong way of living, and to take charge of your heart? It’s then that you can start experiencing His life of true satisfaction, security, and success that is only found in Him. Just think a minute…