Comments on Chapters 19 to 21 (Part 6- Transforming My Experience)
from John Ortberg's The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You
1. "Your work is a huge part of God's plan for your life, and God intends the Spirit to fill and engerize workplaces. Work that gets done in offices and elsewhere (ie- family, church, community groups, etc)- building up people , creating teams, managing the resources of creation- desperately requires the guidance and energy of the Spirit." page 219. Please comment on that statement.
Also- do you see "work" as a 9 to 5 reality; something you get paid for or do you view "work" as part of the fabric of living.
2. Have you ever thought of work as "spiritual"? Chapter 19 speaks about using our strengths. Do you know your strengths?
3. Can you think of circumstances/situations in life when you have helped other people use their gifts and talents thus helping then get more "in the flow". (see page 222)
4. I love the story at the beginning of chapter 20 where William Zinsser was frustrated with having to write obituaries. He lamented to his editor, "when am I going to get some decent story assignments?" The response-- "nothing you write will ever get read as carefully as what you are righting right now!" Indeed, it was a reminder that we are called to do our very best with what is in front of us. have you ever been in a situation like Zinsser where you spoke out in frustration but. . . what was needed was "your best"!
5. Chapter 20 summarizes the book "Habits of the Heart" by Robert Bellah. It's a classic. Bellah described 3 attitudes toward work:
a. treat it as job to pay bills and make money
b. approach as career
c. approach work as a calling.
where are you right now in your "attitude toward work"? Have you experienced change in attitude over the years? How so?
6. "Any work that has meaning, that can be a blessing to people and to the earth, can be a calling". Do you believe this to be true? If so, have you seen examples of people who demonstrate their work as a "calling" that could be a positive witness for others? Please share examples.
7. page 237-- "People are given more than they can handle all the time!. . .but. . .you will never be place in a situation that God can't handle!" The paragraph surrounding these quotes really grabbed my attention for I hear the cliche all the time- "God will never give me more than I can handle!"
I would just love to hear your reactions to this notion.
1. I never thought of it quite like that, but work has always been more than just a way to make a living. I spend more time working than any other thing I do, and it provides so much more than just a salary. It stands to reason, then, that if I am following Christ in my life, my work should benefit from the guidance and energy of the Spirit. I think that happens sometimes, but I haven't consciously cultivated that approach to my work.
ReplyDelete2. There were times when I felt there were spiritual aspects of my work--in my Air Force days when I was a commander and had the mission of the organization and the careers, if not the lives, of my troops in my hands. No true commander views command as a 9-5 job that pays a salary. But aside from those times, it's been difficult to think of work as spiritual. Interesting, challenging, rewarding, relevant--all that for sure. But "spiritual"? That's something I need to work on.
3. "In the flow" of contributing to work, maybe, but I don't recall helping someone get "in the flow" of the spirit at work. Perhaps it would be the same thing if we view our work as spiritual.
4. Certainly. I moved to Alaska to take a certain position and was put into another when I got there. It took me a while (and some counciling from the colonel) to sort it out, but "my best" was what was needed, and when I realized that, it was a great job.
5. That's changed a little over time, but less than I like to think. It was clearly a calling when I was in the Air Force. It's been more of a career since then. But I find it much easier to get up and go to work in the mornings, and much more enjoyable and rewarding overall, when I think of it as a calling, that is, something that I do because I'm good at it and can make a difference.
6. Yes, I agree. We're surrounded by people who are a blessing in the sense that they make a positive impact on our lives every day. Our complex society and econony wouldn't work without all those people. Some do very mundane and (we would think) boring jobs, but life would be difficult for us without them. Garbage collecting is a calling.
7. I thought that this was a great observation. The idea that God will never give us more than we can handle sets us all up to fail on a regular basis. It suggests that if we're good enough Christians, if our faith is strong enough, if we're smart enough or tough enough, we will never fail. What does that say about us when we do fail, which we will?
1. I feel like we talked about those people who already have this part figured out way back in the early chapters. The great cab driver or bus driver who seem to have that Spirit in everything they do. I think I sometimes have this, but I do tend to fall into thinking of it more as a bill payer.
ReplyDelete2. I am very lucky, in that I am able to do something I love for a living. I see that more through other people who look at my job and think how cool it is. And most times this grounds me and reminds me to appreciate much more my luck. However, it also reinforces the fact that even the cool jobs need some spiritual help. I was really taken by surprise that the first person 'filled with the Spirit of God' was a designer, Bezalel. It inspired me somewhat in perhaps a different way that my job might be seen. I do know my strengths and honestly have gotten better in the last 10 years in using those in my work. I used to fight them, but knowing them and letting them work for me, instead of against me, has been quite an achievement in my work.
3. I again am lucky to meet people on almost every job that I try to put in the flow. It's self serving, so don't let me take credit that isn't deserved. My job is constantly about meeting and working with strangers, who in 2 days must become teammates of a sort, in order to reach my work goal. Without these new friends on my team, my job is at best extremely difficult, and at worse impossible to achieve. Inspiring is essential.
4. I had achieved a pretty good position in my field when my husband and I decided we could afford for me to quit and just be a Mom. It was all I dreamed and could imagine. One week later my husband lost his job and shortly thereafter I had to return to work. The jobs I had to take for several months were very much like starting over, well below what I had already achieved, but it was money to pay the bills. It was a tough time, but I just had my eye on those babies at home. And eventually I got a better job. i believe that this time spent was doing my best and made me appreciate all the more the things I ask people to do for me now.
5. I think I have a combined a and b approach. I also believe I have my eye on C, but I'm not there yet.
6. I see it everyday. In service work, in the medical profession, teaching, it's just all around us. Those are what I call real jobs. What Jud does is a real job. What I do is like play and I'm just lucky I can actually get paid for it. It doesn't mean it's not a calling or that there isn't a need for it, but it does mean that I can't take myself serious enough to believe it's as important as so many others. Those are the people I am humbled by and so thankful for.
7. I have always heard this one and really liked hearing the reality of it! What a relief! I feel like I'm given more than I can handle all the time and sometimes it's just to the point of yelling to the sky....'it's not supposed to be this much!" But He does handle it always. A much better way to think of
We just complete a study on this book at Windsor Crossing in Chesterfield, Missouri. My life is profoundly changed! The section on Temptation and the final chapter have, as Bill Hybel's would put it, "rocked my world". My family, like most American's, have struggled the past couple years to accept a new normal in our lives. We have grown in many unexpected ways and received the most amazing blessings because of the hardships we've faced. However, reading this book put everything in my life in perspective in a way I never imagined possible. I am a "hoper"! I have several quotes from this book posted around my home. THank you, Lord, for giving John Ortberg such an amazing gift and for allowing him to honor you with it! God Bless You, John!
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