7th
PERKS
WORD OF MY BREATH
My sister, Leslie, has worked in Human Resources for years, and she can tell you that often a person seeking employment will be just as interested in the perks, as they are in the base salary for their prospective position, especially as they move up the ladder in a particular corporation. Perks are incidental benefits awarded for certain types of employment. Sometimes they are stated clearly in the contract and sometimes they are stealthy; things that others would never suspect, though they would love to obtain, and those who are the recipients are reluctant to ever reveal, as that would spoil the exclusivity of their prize.
In the ‘job’ of living life, there are hidden perks as well, treasures, if you will, that I believe God places here for us, to be discovered, as we ‘put our hands to the plow’, so to speak. The problem with these gems, is that some human beings are intent on circumventing the process and continuing to the miracle perks without the life adventure called work. These people will always be thwarted, because there is no way to get around the God who designed this universal corporate pay structure. Their lives will end in desperate frustration.
Contrarily, those who will do the regular jobs that they find at hand, raise their families, help those they can, and work out their own salvation with a servant’s attitude, and who won’t ‘throw in their hands’, because they have been bluffed into it by a worldly poker face that says what they are doing makes no difference and they should just give up; these are the ones who will find the diamond in the rough from time to time and who will see the fingerpaints of God on a world of dismal black and white.
Remember that in the story of Jesus’ first miracle, at the wedding in Cana; that it was only the servants who got to see that He turned the water into wine. Jesus mother came to the servants and told them to do whatever Jesus instructed. Because they did, and because they finished the job with a good attitude, they were witness to the miracle, and were recipients of the first perks of Jesus ministry. They could have quit at any time, and thus would have missed out on the secret. And so can we.
We can do everything right, serve in our capacity, with a good attitude and help in every way we know how, but if we quit because we think our contribution makes no difference, that is like the fullback stopping on the one yard line before making a touchdown. What a tragedy. Believe me, the world system and negative people will be on the sidelines jeering, telling you all the reasons why you should give up. Don’t. Don’t let them all bluff you. Get your own poker face and realize that your hand of cards is good enough when God is dealing the cards and controlling the outcome. He can take the little you offer Him and make His much out of it. Remember that all the servants at the wedding of Cana did, was carry the jugs and fill them with the water. Jesus did the rest. Jesus is still in the business of doing your rest. Rest in THAT. And don’t throw in your hand.
“Don’t be under any illusion: you cannot make a fool of God! A man’s harvest in life will depend entirely on what he sows. Let us not grow tired of doing good, for, unless we throw in our hand, the ultimate harvest is assured.” Galatians 6:7,9
© 2009 Susan Ardith Lee
