One of the Peculiar People

In a perfect world you would enter your work place; all your coworkers have a smile on their faces and they would all greet you with “Good morning!” Your favorite office friendly music is playing and you love your job and are excited about coming to work everyday! Then you wake up from that dream because life is not perfect. In reality how does your workday start? Are you a person who greets everyone with a smile? Or do you enter your workplace resembling the Wicked Witch of the West? Are your coworkers glad to see you or do they want to run the other way? I’m going to give you a second to pause and think about that one. ~SMILE~

I have to admit I try to smile and be pleasant all day long but there are times I fall short. As Christians we are supposed to let God’s light shine through us regardless of the attitudes of our boss, atmosphere of our workplace or the temperament of the people we serve (customers, patients, etc.). My current workplace isn’t the most pleasant place to work. I find this ironic because this is the first job I’ve had where I’m not that physically active, the majority of my job is paperwork and talking to people. I work for a government agency, and it’s amazing how unhappy a lot of my coworkers are especially at a time when so many people are unemployed. After all we have a stable job with benefits!

When I realized I was beginning to pick up bad habits from my surroundings that also affected my life after work as well, God placed a scripture in my spirit: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1Peter 2:9 KJV

I like the The Message Bible’s version best which says, But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. How powerful is that? You and I are one of the peculiar people! But do we really know what that means? One of the definitions for peculiar is: Belonging distinctively or primarily to one person, group, or kind; special or unique. So for me that translates into, we are chosen by God to do his work everywhere, including the workplace! I’m not suggesting that you start handing out religious literature or preaching to your coworkers. But what I am saying is our disposition should be the reflection of God.

In order for my workplace to become a more comfortable environment for me; I decided to bring in an mp3 player with speakers so I could listen to music softly at my desk. I would pray a quick prayer before my workday started, and I believe that my early morning exercise (with all of those good feeling endorphins) is helping me to have a pleasant outlook and workday. After all, most of us spend more time at work than we do with our families so we might as well enjoy it as much as we can!

While writing this blog, I realized I’ve been slacking off on praying before I began my workday. Asking God to intervene in our workplace should be very important to us, yet it is very easy to fall by the wayside. I usually begin my prayer at work by first thanking God for who He is and the job He has given me. I ask to be a light to others and for blessings over my supervisor, coworkers and anyone that enters our office for help that day. And then I thank Him in advance for a successful day. Prayer is personal and our jobs and positions different, so we each have to pray according to how we are led by the Holy Spirit.

In closing, I want to tell you when I first started this job; I wanted the people I worked with to change. Of course God doesn’t always work like that; instead He desired a change in me. I was the first person to bring music into the office, and now everyone has music at their desks! And this small change seems to have lifted the spirit of the office. God’s peculiar people are to produce and provoke positive change! ~smile~ Have you thought of little things you can do to have a pleasant or more productive workday?

Until next time, stay encouraged!


See you in 2 weeks,
Jennifer

I'll be back on Wednesday, October 6th, hope to see you then!


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