day 233: Form

I was out running yesterday and at mile 5 of my usual 6 mile run I found myself tiring for no apparent reason. As I tried to analyze what was going on, I realized that for the last few miles my mind had drifted and I was getting sloppy with my form and that was what was making me tired. I tried to clear my head, concentrate on my form, and return my body to the upright posture and lean forward position that I know holds me together and strong for many miles. As I did that, I could almost immediately feel myself strengthening and I went on to finish the run feeling stronger and better than I did at mile 5. What does this have to do with purposed worKING? Much, and in fact it what Purposed worKING is about. Work and our jobs try and give us a form to follow and unfortunately it is not always the form that God spells out for us in His word. Paul talks about how important it is to run the race well and finish strong. He says in 1 Corinthians 9:26; "So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step" Without the right form and concentration the run is never run well and finished strongly. Our work is a career marathon and with each day that we lose our form and get sloppy we run the risk of not finishing with the strength that God expects from us. Malcolm Gladwell recently wrote about the pitfalls of hubris (being overly proud and arrogant) and one of the things he said was that many times hubris comes from lots of experience on the job and tenure in a position. We become overly confident in ourselves and before long we become prideful and arrogant about what we can do versus others. As this happens, we, in God's eyes and others around us, lose our form. The great thing is that we can with God's help course correct ourselves, right now, today, when our form slips. It may be that today you know that you have not been the person you should be at work to others. You know that you have become prideful and defensive of your work versus others as you share less with others and look for credit from the boss. Or, it may be that you find yourself looking at others around you and instead of thinking how you can build them up, you are seeing them as competition and that is shaping how you interact and communicate with them. Whatever the circumstances, if you feel as though you are losing form, then now is the time to make the correction. God's Word is full of those corrections and that is what we also try and provide here at Purposed worKING as well. The prayer for each of today should be that we can all find the form that God desires for each of us.

Reference: I Corinthians 9:26 (New Living Testament)