day 1412: A Huge Thank You

"...rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

For our faithful readers, you know that I asked a number of friends to contribute to Purposed worKING while I walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  The response was so great that the post contributions were more than the days I was gone, but that just added to my extended pilgrimage time, to which I am very grateful. Now I am back and want to say thank you to all of our guest contributors.  It was special to me to see working professionals step forward and share their faith and how they bring glory to God in their jobs and lives. We don't say thank you enough in the workplace, but imagine if we did?  What if we thanked the security guard for keeping us safe?  What if we thanked the cafeteria worker for keeping the tables so clean?  What if we thanked the tax guys for being so diligent in their calculations?  How hard is it to thank someone? It's not, but still we don't do it.  Consider the power of a thank you and try wielding some of that power today as aggressively as you like!

We are taught to be thankful for all that we have, since none of it came from us and none of it is ours.  I am thankful for those who allowed me to travel on the Camino (good for the body, mind and soul, which I will detail out in next week's Purposed worKINGS), including my wife Patti who gave me the time and space to travel and be away from home and out of touch.  With a spirit of thankfulness our days will start better and those around us will recognize our "up" attitude.  It is hard to be a complainer and be thankful at the same time. Thankfulness trumps many other negatives, so if we just start today with a thank you to those who we never say thank you, it will be a better day for all!

Reference:  Colossians 2:7 (New Living Testament)

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day 292: Thresholds

I have written before about how different our attitudes are when we are going to work versus going home. Many people will talk about how they are "different people" at work versus home, and they don't like it. They talk about how they are positive, enthusiastic, optimistic at home, but on their way to work it feels like all of that life is sucked out of them. What happens that makes us feel this way? Why is it that when we start thinking about work that a whole different set of feelings and emotions creep up on us, and why does it have to be that way? Since no one but ourselves can control our emotions and feelings, it doesn't have to be this way and it all begins with the management of the thresholds. Each day we cross the threshold of our homes on the way to work, then we cross the threshold of our workplace. Later in that day we cross that threshold again on our way home and then we return to the threshold of our home for the last crossing of the day. If we were to think intently and deliberately about our emotions and feelings each time we make those crossings, then our attitude can be managed consistently. And that consistency is important in how we are viewed, appraised and interpreted by others around us, both at home and work. What God has to say about this can be found in Psalm 100:4; "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name." The point here is that we can make any threshold His gates and His courts. It is all in how we think about our work and homes and the attitude that we bring into them within our hearts and minds. We can cross any threshold in a place of thanksgiving and praise and make them a place that can be called His. This week as we come off the long weekend focused on thanks, let us not lose that spirit and instead bring that same thanksgiving and praise to God with us as we cross the thresholds to leave home, go to work, leave from work, and go back home. May each threshold be the thresholds that are His.

Reference: Psalm 100:4 (New Living Testament)