In today’s society, job titles have come to define who or who not a person is. We all want to impress our friends and colleagues with the school we attended and the professional skills we acquired. I sat down one day and began to ask myself if that’s really all we are?
I remember working on my first paid job and everyone I told about it felt like it was some big deal, they began to define me based on the job and some even went further to say the job might be too stressful or demanding for me. But, one thing I held on to was the fact that no matter how hard it gets or how stressed up I feel about the job, I won’t let it define me.
And it sure did get stressful and some days I get so knocked out and exasperate about everything. I even began to pay less attention to the people that mattered most in my life, I withdrew myself from other areas of life in order to get focused and committed to work. What happened? Why wasn’t I still satisfied? But, something happened at work one day and I realized that with or without me, the work goes on. I saw that life wasn’t pretty serious as people made it seem. Basically, it was my knowledge of who God said I was and what he created me to be that mattered.
I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life – Maya Angelou
Firstly, you need to know who you are and constantly remember who your source is, a job can be gone within a twinkle of an eye and everyone may begin to term you as the jobless one but that’s not who you are. You see, too often we get so caught up in the demands of our job that we forget our purpose, the unique design God planned for each and every one of us. I know it can be pretty hard some times and all we can think of is getting the money, pay the bills and all of that but no matter what your reasons are, don’t let the job define you and don’t forget who you are.
Our life is not just about the man we might meet in the future, the money, house, or car we may own someday or the perfect career breakthrough that is to come, it’s about thriving in what God is doing in our life today, it’s about living a life completely sold out to God’s will for us.
Know that, you are not your job and it doesn’t have to define you in any way. Get up each day and be grateful that you are among those who wake up to a job every day and are getting paid for it but don’t get so carried away that you forget to make a life out of the living you are trying to make. We are all called to do more than our various jobs, there is so much to the amazing person that we all are and we all have a unique purpose outside the workplace except otherwise you are fulfilling that purpose already.
Each day, I remember that I am so blessed and I express deep gratitude to God for the fact that I can work on a job, get paid for it, and still get to work on what I’m passionate about.
Always remember that your identity does not come from who your boss thinks you are, it’s not in your job title either, and it’s certainly not found in others’ perspective of you. Your true identity is found in who God says you are, it’s in what God has called you to do, every other identity is just an illusion. Therefore, decide each day that you are going to make the best use of what God has deposited in you, decide that he is your source, not your job.
God is my source, not my job.
Well said Naomi…and I must confess your blog is unique and beautiful.
Awww…thanks for the compliment Jerry! Hope you visit the blog more often!