Tag: A Word for Wednesday

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The Employee Handbook in Your Library

When my son was a teenager, I used to tell him, “Do the right thing, and people will follow. It may be many, a few, or just one person, but there are people who really want to do the right thing but in the pressure of the moment lack the confidence or strength to do so. If you do the right thing, someone will take courage and follow.” This is as true for adults as for those in school; it is as true in the workplace as it is at leisure.

If there were one manual to guide the transition from campus to career, I think Proverbs 16 might be it, for it opens our eyes to the impact around us when we embrace the wisdom of God and apply it in our jobs. Whether we lead formally by position or informally through influence, this chapter provides indispensable insight for living faithfully and effectively at work.

How critical is it, for instance to eschew the paths to dishonest gain and set one’s career on a trajectory of honesty, justness, and right behavior?1 What boss wouldn’t favor and rely on the employee who “gives heed to instruction”?2 What advice could be sounder than to discreetly filter our thoughts and give voice only to those that build up our team and its members?3 How highly must leaders esteem those with the courage to speak truth and the tact to do so in respectful, constructive ways!4 How rare, how valued, and how powerful the one in whom the Spirit has produced self-control!5 Moreover, Proverbs 16 reminds us of God’s sovereignty over even our best thinking,6 even as it warns us against the dangers of pride, which sadly but predictably topples even the mightiest of organizations.7

Do you know a recent college grad who is wide-eyed at the thought of entering “the real world”? Do you know anyone who’s stumbled out of the gate and would really welcome a do-over? Do you know anyone for whom things appear to be going smoothly, but are struggling inwardly to live his or her faith outwardly? If any of these people are in your life, then you have a great book-tip for them! Proverbs 16. And chances are, they already have a copy.

[Click here to read “the handbook,” Proverbs 16.]

Father, send your Spirit to incline my heart toward your truth and to inspire me to apply the life lessons He whispers inside. Amen.

1 Proverbs 16:8, 11
2 Proverbs 16:20
3 Proverbs 16:23, 24
4 Proverbs 16:13, 14
5 Proverbs 16:32
6 Proverbs 16:1, 9
7 Proverbs 16:5, 18, 19

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From the Farmer and the King

I was in my early twenties when an unassuming farmer mused to me, “There are people earning $15,000 per year and getting by, and there are people making $100,000 per year and going bankrupt. It all comes down to living within your means.” I’d always been inclined to save, but this kernel of common sense bolstered my resolve to think and act long-term.

Though tending crops and herds was not within Solomon’s kingly duties, he offered this sage advice in down-home terms an agrarian people could understand. “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,” he wrote, “give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.” In other words, plan, watch, and make fully-aware decisions. Act in the moment with the end in mind.

I am now a stone’s throw away from sixty; decades of “sowing and reaping” have come and gone. Some years have yielded only financial famine, when living paycheck-to-paycheck was its own modest victory. There have been periods of pestilence, when even the savings in the silos were devoured by swarms of unforeseen expenses. Then there have been the storehouse seasons, when harvest was healthy and savings replenished.

Much lies outside our control—storms stir and insects invade, weather withers and droughts destroy. But be it through the king in his splendor or a farmer in his field, God speaks wisdom to see us through scarcity and to bless us in bounty.  Says Solomon, “There will be enough.”

Father in Heaven, inspire my mind to know your ways, and strengthen my spirit to live in them. I ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son, my Savior and Lord. Amen.

[Click here to read more common sense from Solomon in Proverbs 27:23-27.]

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Wind Instruments

Phil Nagy is a musician’s musician. I’ve heard him play any number of stringed instruments, carry the beat on drums, and sing some pretty difficult tunes. He can also pick up the flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, and tuba! Did I mention Phil includes “band director” in his repertoire?

Every horn Phil picks up produces its own sound, different from all the others. The trumpet excites with confident blasts of high-pitched energy, the flute softening their sharp edges with soothing sensibility, and from the oboe wends an alluring enchantment one can neither mimic nor ignore. Each brass brings its own purpose, and every woodwind leaves its own effect. Yet all of his instruments share this in common: none is capable of producing even the first note by itself; it is Phil’s exhale into each horn that frees it from its silence and releases from it the great purpose for which it was crafted. And at this one man’s breath, every implement shows itself distinct.

There was a time when I favored conformity, preferring people who dressed a certain way, spoke a certain way, and lived a certain way. I surrounded myself with a circle of sameness, be it a fraternity of French horns or a clique of clarinets. Over time, however, I’ve come to savor the unique among us—the lonely bassoon with his melancholy contemplations, the piccolo who flitters in unannounced, alights in sanguine cheer, then departs as quickly as she came, and the tuba, who goes about his duties in a workmanlike manner, largely unnoticed despite his conspicuous size. For the Director has selected each in its own beauty and united them all for His composition.

In preparation for this Pentecost Sunday, take some time to sense and to savor the body of Christ, for the Holy Spirit calls and gifts each believer for the common good, just as He determines. Enjoy those who carry the tune, of course, but listen also for the softer sounds of those who serve in the background, those who, under the mastery of the Maestro, turn a mere melody into a magnificent masterpiece.

Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. Romans 6:13.