day 184: Time For More?

You've been in your job for awhile now. You know what you are doing. You are good at what you do. When assigned a project or task you nail it and do a great job. As you look at what you are capable, you believe you can take on more, and more importantly, you feel like you are ready and maybe overdue. You wonder what you need to do to be asked to do more in your job? There is no easy answer to this question, other than when we are in this space we need to be sure that we are truly able to take on more and the best way to know that we are is to prove it in the results of our current work. Too many times we want to take on more but we haven't really completed what we have on our plate, but we think we have. We go forward and raise our hand to do more and our bosses say, "well, what about this and what about that?" And then we end up flat-footed, thinking that we had just done something good but feeling bad that we might have actually let someone down. Proving by completing and producing results is not just a work thing, it is a Biblical principle. In the parable of the talents we hear the master say to the servant who had invested and returned the talents beyond expectations; "The master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!" This parable is of course sending us the larger and more powerful message of what God wants to be able to say to each and every one of us when we reach his throne in heaven, but there is no reason to not use the same message to understand how we are to approach everything we do in life, including our work. We each have our own talents that we have been given and we have put them to work in our chosen professions and jobs. When the time comes to take on more, it should be because we took a little and made a lot so that we did it the old fashioned way, "we earned it". Be good and faithful, you servants. All and more will come to you if you remain steadfast.


Reference: Matthew 25:23 (New Living Testament)