During the past couple weeks, I’ve hit a wall. There was a nine day string in there that rates up there with the top five worst periods of my life. It was the culmination of a series of struggles at work (where I have not made a win in along time), health scares, broken guitar strings, broken tools, a never ending string of work that has to be done so that I can work on the thing at hand, and a constant string of interruptions that precluded me from concentrating at all.
During the past few days I’ve been able to gain a bit of perspective on it and am seeing a theme of reparation appearing. Too long, have I neglected one thing so that a more pressing thing can have my attention. I believe it’s time to stop and sharpen the tools so that I can do the job at hand, and I’m asking God to give me peace in this.
In the midst of this I’m also finding time to reevaluate my job and the goals for my job (funny how you find time to be introspective when you’ve reached a mental wall). Here are my thoughts and goals about my job that I’ve resolved to redouble. (I have similar goals for my personal life that I won’t go into at this time).
- To do my job in a way that brings honor and glory to God while serving a team of people who God has brought together at GCC to make an impact in our community.
- To serve my supervisor in a way that frees him up to do his job. To do this in a manner that allows him to excel because he doesn’t spend his time babysitting me; and that allows him to feel that I’m trustworthy and that I have his best interest at heart.
- To deepen relationships around me by putting others first, that means putting others above the work that must be done. This by the way is not the way I’m wired up.
- To balance my life – even if everything in my work world is falling to pieces.
To everyone who has had to deal with my Pernicious Attitude lately, I apologize. And for all of you who have lifted me up with your prayers, I thank you.
Hang in there Mr. Buford. I'm been in the funk before. You will prevail. Let Him remind you of that!
Dean
Posted by: Dean Lisenby | May 20, 2007 at 03:57 PM
Just came out of one of those too! Hang in there. I hear there are these things called "a day off". I haven't actually experienced one, but I hear they are "the thing" to fix an overworked and overstressed techie.
Posted by: Jeff Reed | May 20, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Isn't this the struggle we all face? I like the way Ephesians 5:15-17 suggests we cope:
"So keep strict watch that how YOU walk is not as unwise but as wise [persons], buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked. On this account cease becoming unreasonable, but go on perceiving what the will of the LORD is."
We have to BUY out time for those things that are most important - it COSTS.
And there is a lot to be said about that proverbial 'day off'. :)
Posted by: deannie | May 21, 2007 at 10:17 AM
Ed, I sure understand what you're going through. Somewhere down the road, I bet there's going to be a great story to come out of this. I'm especially interested in what comes from your first bullet point. Until then, keep up the good fight. I'll be praying for you!
Posted by: Tony Dye | May 21, 2007 at 05:19 PM
Ed, McKenzie and I will pray for you tonight. It's interesting reading your struggles and seeing how similar they are to mine in struggling through the process of starting a new business. I know it's hard. But I'm also excited for you knowing that it's these sort of struggles that really help us grow as Christians. (Rom 5:3-5)
Posted by: John Dolan | May 22, 2007 at 12:16 AM
Ed,
Just getting to my Feed Backlog.
You are at an insightful moment to see beyond the wall. I will add you to my prayers to overcome the wall and to move on with joy and success.
Posted by: Mark Moreno | July 01, 2007 at 05:17 PM
Well said.
Posted by: Ownah | October 27, 2008 at 09:21 AM