day 196: Knocking Knees

Work is full of moments and opportunities for knee knocking. You know the knee knocking feeling. It's that moment when you go to make the big presentation to higher ups, or you get visited by the CEO or a member of the Board of Directors and they ask you your opinion or point of view on something, or it's the moment when you are asked to speak in front of the team, or it's the out of the blue phone call that comes from the boss when he/she asks you something on the spot, or it's the sharing the elevator with the CEO and you don't quite know what to say next. Some would call it the butterflies in the stomach, I call it knee knocking time. I can remember many times in may career where my knees knocked as I made a presentation in the Board room or even to just a larger part of the team. If I had been wearing a heart monitor on those days in those moments I am sure I would have been way up there like running hard or biking a hill. Actually those moments are good for all of us. They make us sharpen ourselves and ensure that we are on our toes and bringing forward our best thinking. I have often thought that when those moments of anxiety start going away in our jobs that it might be time to think about doing something else. If we become so comfortable in what we do and who we are working with that we aren't having the knee knocking moments then it could be that we aren't getting grown or we aren't stretching ourselves enough to develop any longer. We know this about our relationship with God too. When we are striving to grow closer on our journey to know God the awesomeness and power of God should keep our knees knocking. We read this in 1 Peter 1:17: "...He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as foreigners here on earth.". What this verse says to me is that we should feel those knees knock a bit each time that we go before God and just like work when we are put on the spot for our point of view or a presentation, we should be bringing our best to God and knowing that he is judging us but doing so not like he will not think that our best is good enough but like that he wants us to grow and come closer to Him. If today in your job you are at a point where the knees have stopped knocking at work then go get that extra oomph by leaning in closer to God. Ask Him today to be at work with you and to help you grow towards Him today. And if you are going to be in a knee knocking spot at work today, then ask Him to be there with you to make the experience one of learning and development and to lead you in that moment.

Reference: 1 Peter 1:17 (New Living Testament)