Raising the Temp

For the last few weeks now, my bible and my thoughts have been stuck on Ecclesiastes 3 with the hopes of trying to figure out what God is trying to speak to me through this chapter

You see i’ve been in a funk at work which has oozed into other aspects of my life and i’ve been diligently praying over the circumstances, hoping for God to reveal His plan for me at work. Last week as I was at home working, I looked up and my bible caught my eye. I heard a voice that said, “go pick it up”.  As I went and picked my bible off the shelf and walked back to my desk,  I said inaudibly “Where do you want me to go?” I heard His voice say, “just open it”. I saw my bookmark and thought that is a good place to start.

The bookmark was located in Ecclesiastes 3. As I read through the chapter, I was enlightened and in awe of what that chapter spoke about.  It was all about our seasons and how we should handle them and there’s a time for everything. It’s not by accident that my bookmark led me here. It was God’s way of speaking to me through His word! In that chapter it says to be happy and joyous at work because that is all we have. We don’t get to choose sometimes where we are but we do have the choice of who we are while we are there.

Every interaction, every conversation, every facial expression can have a positive or negative impact in another’s life.

I think i’ve been so caught up in all the negative things that have been going on at work that I failed to see the  things I should be happy about; The impact I could have on others around me. Even when we are in our wandering and wilderness seasons, doesn’t mean God isn’t going to use you while you’re waiting. Every interaction, every conversation, every facial expression can have a positive or negative impact in another’s life. The world doesn’t just stop because we are hurting and trying to figure life out. We have to choose in those moments/days/months/years while we are waiting for God’s direction, how we handle the situations in front of us. We should try to take the focus off of ourselves and shift it to those around us. Ask yourself, is the way you’re  handling these situations going to bring joy to anyone? I would think most of our answers would be no.  

Our jobs are only a short portion of our lives. It shouldn’t define our every emotion or thought. We shouldn’t let others small actions have such an impact on our mental health. No one has that much power over someone unless we allow it. And that is what i’ve been doing. I’ve been letting others have control over how I act and feel at work. 

Several years ago our youth pastor at the time gave this analogy about Christianity. It was thermometer vs. thermostat.  As christians we shouldn’t be a thermometer that changes depending on the room, We should be the Thermostat that sets the temperature. I may not be able to change the situations at work, but I sure can change what my thermostat is set on. My prayer for you and me is that everyday we would surrender our battles to God, allowing him to replace our weapons of hurt with the armor of happiness. 

God may not have answered my question with these bible verses (I’ll still be praying specifically over those), but He did give me a set of verses that will help me get through my days until he does answer the prayer.

May you find the joy in your mundane today.

¹²So I realize that the best thing for them is to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live. ¹³God wants all people to eat and drink and be happy in their work, which are gifts from God. ¹⁴I know that everything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done, and they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to make people respect him.

– Ecc. 12-14 NCV