Almost a year ago, I started working at the church I have attended my whole life. Since I’ve worked there, I’ve learned a lot of new things, but one of the biggest ones that I realized is the marked difference that there is between working in a “secular” environment vs. one in ministry.
Before this job, I worked in retail, food service, and customer service. All the jobs I’ve had in the past have one thing in common: they were allfull of negativity. At least at the places I worked, the majority of my co-workers spewed complaints most of the time – their car is falling apart, their roommate is a slob, they hate where they work, they don’t get enough hours, and on and on and on.
After awhile, I realized that negativity tends to be par for the course in those fields. Because of that, I tried my hardest to keep a positive attitude instead of being dragged down into the pit of despair that my comrades seemed to be living in. “Not today, Satan!” became my motto every time I punched in for a shift.
I taught myself to counter every negative comments with a positive one. This didn’t come easily, that’s for sure. At first I felt really cheesy and thought that people would be turned off because I might sound too peppy. I was pleasantly surprised to see that people started requesting to work with me or sitting next to my workstation more often! It was like moths flocking to a light source and I got to have so many great conversations with my co-workers – all because of a little positivity!
The only way that I could continue to do this day after day after day is because of Jesus. Without him, I would have been wallowing in self-pity after every single shift because I would have just let myself get dragged down. When I was reading in my Make it Count devotional, this quote kept standing out to me: “You might be the only Bible someone reads today.” Oof. I thought back to all those people that I used to work with and realized how true that statement really is.
Even though I work in a church environment now, that doesn’t mean that my work is over. I still go to the grocery store and the library and eat out at restaurants. Those waitresses and fitting room attendants and cashiers still need to see the light of Jesus, even if it’s only for the five minutes you interact with them. Keep that thought in the back of your mind as you go about your day and see what a difference it makes. Be a light to those around you.
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<3 Love how He enables that positive outlook on life