Overtime Reflections

This morning I had lots of time to think. The guy that was supposed to come in and work with me, who is on our team, called me at about 6:15am to tell me that he just didn't feel up to working. Great.

So I was alone at our station working on the part that the guys were whining about yesterday. It's a stem that is about an inch and a half long with a nut about one-third of the way down. It's not the right size part so we're having to add a layer of teflon tape--three actually. We have to count all our piece work. It's tedious work. All the guys could keep saying is that this is stupid...over and over. One guy kept questioning why we're being punished?

So standing there alone this morning I had plenty of opportunity to reflect, meditate, and pray. It was really nice. One of the thoughts that struck me and stuck with me was a response to the punishment question. I was reminded of Job’s response to his wife after his calamities. She says, “Curse God and die.” And he responds with, “Shall we accept the good from God and not the trouble?”

I was remembering it as: Shall we accept the good and not the bad? Why are we so quick to assume that something’s wrong when something’s wrong? Why do we presume that we’ve been abandoned when things aren’t going the way we want them?

Then my mind rambled over to thinking about Brother Lawrence and I started wishing I could converse with him. Brother Lawrence, did you ever feel that your friends dumped the crumby jobs on you because they knew that you wouldn’t complain? Did you ever wonder how much worse it could be? How much more you could take? I know. Whatever job, wherever you were, you experienced God’s presence. I understood that a little better today, standing by myself, working a tedious job, meditating on the Word.

After considering Brother Lawrence I meditated on a passage we had been discussing this week from Philippians. 2:14: Do all things without grumbling or complaining. We came across this while studying in Purpose Driven Life. (As a side: I was taking a page from that book while mediating. Warren says we all know how to meditate. He likens it to the same mental pattern as worrying. This ruminating follows Philippians 4:8, though.)

I don’t know about you, but when God wants to teach me a lesson, He quite often uses people around me to teach me. Over the years I’ve referred to “not grumbling or complaining” many times—mostly with my own kids! But this week the word was for me. I laughed out loud when it dawned on me working alone today.

Last night, I was talking with Nelson about the weenie-whiners at work yesterday. I remember saying, “They sounded worse than a bunch of old women with their complaining.” Today, as my memory was pricked with my own words, I was thoroughly challenged to really live the verse…live the truth. There’s a reason for this lack of complaining: to bring greater glory to God. People expect the complaint. What happens when instead of complaint they are met with praise?

When I was in jail, I was a trustee and I worked in the kitchen. Our major task was clean up. Setting up was fun. Cleaning up could be a real disgusting pain. The other woman trustee tended to fall into that pattern of complaining. One day, standing before an endless mountain of gross dishes and pans that were screaming defiantly at us, she started to whine, and it hit me: job security! As long as there was a dirty dish, I had a job. As long as I had a job, I could be out of my pod and busy and productive. The time would go faster. So bring on the grease and grime!

At first she looked at me like I had lost it. Then a smile broke out across her face. From then on, the bigger the mountain, the more fun we had. And whenever one of us teetered on the brink of grumbledom the other would just throw out: job security and we would burst into laughter and before we knew it the job was done.

So, Brother Lawrence, I will accept both the good and trouble from the hand of God, without grumbling or complaining, that my life will shine like a star for the one who created me, walks with me, and keeps teaching me!