Welcome back to The Lemonade Stand for the seventh in our summer series on using whatever ingredients you have — the sour or the salty, the savory or the sweet — to find beauty in life.
We’ve just returned from Rowe Family Camp—our 43rd annual week at a county park in West Virginia with four generations of rowdy Rowes. (If you know my gregarious husband, you understand. Here we are crowded into one small cabin for pizza night!)
One of the highlights each year is our Friday morning Sibling Breakfast, no kids or grandkids allowed. John and Sherry bring Amish cinnamon rolls and sticky buns from their region of Pennsylvania, and the members of Gen 2 have a chance to get caught up on each other’s lives.
Gen 2: Mike and 4 of his sibs Gen 3 playing Dutch Blitz Gen 4: 3 of the 40 great-grandchildren
I was surprised to discover this year that other than one sis-in-law who has just retired from private duty nursing, we are all still employed either full-or part-time in our 60’s and 70’s. That said, I am the only one who complains about their boss.
When we moved to North Carolina six years ago, I left a corporate job I’d held for nearly a dozen years where I was fortunate to work for an excellent supervisor, one who gave me the freedom to do my best work without micro-managing my efforts and who consistently affirmed and encouraged me.
But after our relocation, I went to work for an employer who is a demanding perfectionist, one who rarely thinks my work is good enough. When my workday should be ending, she’s still hovering over my shoulder reminding me that I’ve left emails unanswered and writing projects unfinished. Honestly, she’s harder on me than she ever would be on anyone else. In the name of all that’s good and holy, sometimes I’m ready to quit.
Where do you get a new boss, though, when you’re self-employed?
To my friend on the other side of this screen right now: Do you have a nag for a brain-boss like I do? One who thinks that most everyone else is more clever, capable, and confident than you are? One who tells you that you should be a better parent or neighbor or volunteer? One, in fact, who seems to be the queen of a whole hive of be’s as far as you’re concerned?
Maybe you work for a company with no opportunities for advancement, or you’ve had it with your present position and are desperate to relocate. Could be that your boss overlooks your contributions and fixates on your flaws instead.
Are you ready to put in for a transfer?
Ever since I took piano lessons as a kid, I’ve known that composer Johann Sebastian Bach signed the bottom of his manuscripts not with his initials J.S.B. but rather S.D.G.—Soli Deo Gloria—Latin for “Glory to God alone.” It’s only recently I discovered that he wrote something else at the top of his manuscripts—Jesu Jevu, “Jesus, help!”
If your Self-Employer is coming down hard on you, try telling him or her this:
God is the Author of your story. The chapter you’re living right now might be especially challenging, but he’s already written the ending.
In ALIGN: 31 Days of Prayer Aligned with God’s Desires, Beth Moore writes: “Live wisely but bravely. You cannot do what God has called you to do without other-worldly courage. Be careful not to protect yourself so well that you protect yourself from your own calling. This ends spectacularly well.”
“. . . keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” 2 Timothy 4:5
Human ambition is exactly that. Don’t mistake it for divine calling, which is not so much about what you accomplish but how you choose to live. Pursuing our calling in Christ has more to do with character than career.
“Therefore I... beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” Ephesians 4:1
God doesn’t need your efforts, but he’s promised to grow your gifting. There’s no glass ceiling with God. He can and will do immeasurably more than we ask or think.
“This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.” 2 Timothy 1: 6
As for putting in for a transfer? It’s already been done.
“For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Colossians 1:13-14 NLT
Someday the earth will make dust of me.
Let it. I have somewhere else to go.
And until then? I’m learning to give my self-employer a little grace. She means well, and she’s trying to do the best she can with the raw materials she’s been given. When she gets on my case about all I’ve left undone or unsaid, or wrings her hands about situations I can do nothing about, I’ll borrow that notation from Bach and write “J.J.” above my day: “Jesus, help!”
Because I have it on good authority that Jesus loves me. This I know.
And you know what else is truer than true?
He loves you, too.
~ Maggie Wallem Rowe