My Year of Transition - Part 1

I said I wasn't a blogger or a journal-er, and I suppose I've proven that fact since it has been well over a year since I made my very first post to this blog. It's hard to imagine everything that has happened since then. So many things in our lives changed that I will always remember 2010 as the year of transition.

The first thing that happened was that my boss was fired - not so unusual when your boss is a basketball coach at the university level, but nonetheless unsettling. In colleges and universities when the head coach is fired, the rest of the staff is usually released as well. Their continued employment is totally at the discretion of the new head coach. That's what happened here. I was the only person in the office for a month, with the "old" assistant coaches coming in only an hour or so per day just to be able to keep receiving a paycheck until the new head coach was hired. Then when he was hired, sure enough, he decided he wanted to bring in his own staff, so the former staff were all released. Once the new staff was in place I was the odd man out. Strange feeling......I had worked in this office for nine years, but suddenly I was the "outsider", the one they didn't trust. Lots of closed door meetings and whispers left me feeling like a stranger in my own office. Unpleasant. Uncomfortable. Scary!

I was seriously beginning to consider looking for a different job on campus when God reminded me of a scripture. I took that scripture to heart and reminded myself of it every day: "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:22-24)

I won't say it was easy, but putting things in perspective got me through the transition. In my job, I was not serving the new coaching staff, I was serving God! Wow! I found that it is much easier to be a servant for the Lord at my job than to serve people who do not know or appreciate you. When I determined to serve the Lord at work, I decided to make it my mission to anticipate questions and needs, to inform the new staff of policies and procedures, to give them as much helpful information as I could to assist them in their transition. In short, I wanted to serve them so well that I would become a valuable asset rather than someone they would continue to view with suspicion. It's working! After a year I have gotten to know my new staff, and they appreciate what I do for them. I still miss my "old" coworkers, but I've built new relationships and my prayer is that I would be attentive to opportunities for God to use me to help bring them to Him.

It's amazing to me that God's Word was relevant all those years ago and is still relevant today. It makes me sad that I tend to look for instruction in the Word only in times of transition.

Life (and Other Interruptions)

I have never blogged before, which will probably quickly become apparent to anyone who happens to stumble across this post. But I have friends who blog regularly, or hand-write pages at a time in their journals. I've actually never understood why anyone would want to put the everyday experiences of their life, or any insights they may (or may not) have, on paper or in cyberspace for the world to see. So.....why am I doing this? I think I have reached the point in my life that I just want to explore the possibilities. Maybe I'll learn something new about myself. Or have brilliant insights into life. Or...or...or.........nah, most likely not.

I have reached that stage in life with my 56th birthday last week, and my first grandchild on the way (a little girl, Maggie, thank you very much) that I am not old enough to retire, but I am too old to be young anymore. (What, me??? A Grandmother???) What am I supposed to do with my middle ages - those years between the end of child-rearing and the point where you truly are old? I have worked outside the home since I was a 19-year-old bride, and for most of those years I have felt that LIFE has interrupted MY life. Work has interrupted my life. Things beyond my control have interrupted my life. Do you see where I'm going here? I have always wanted to do all sorts of things that LIFE kept me from doing. I guess that's life.

So....times have changed now, and I don't really want to do many of the same things that I wanted to do in the past. I guess that's the purpose of this blog - to simply explore how my middle ages should be spent. How they can best be used to serve my family, my church, and to honor God. How can I keep LIFE and the other interruptions from interrupting and disrupting MY life. Something to think about.