Last month I was overwhelmed and frustrated at work, and was convicted I wasn’t doing a good job shining my light for Christ. I’ve been praying God would give me the strength to be the light for him in what can be a dark place. It’s a focus of mine for 2022. In this first week back at work, God gave me many opportunities! 

My first conversation was with “Luke.” Luke is in his twenties and is struggling with finding his place in this world. He is an intelligent young man with a bright future. The problem is, his parents have very high expectations for him. He has a masters in chemistry, but they feel he should get a PhD, an MD, or a JD. A masters isn’t good enough, in their opinion, even though he has no desire to continue his schooling. My heart goes out to this young man. I explained to him his value doesn’t come from his parents’ opinion. He has inherent value as a child of God. We talked for quite a while, and he apologized for taking me away from my work. I told him that was probably the most important conversation I’d have all day. 

Later in the week, “Mitch” came to speak with me. He was concerned with some statements his boss had made, and was afraid he was losing his boss’s trust. He wasn’t looking for advice, but needed someone to confide in.

The next day, “Marc” visited my office. He was having trouble with a coworker he felt was being condescending to him. He said “You’ve been working with people for a long time; how do you deal with people like that?” (This is Marc’s first job). I smiled and told him a story of a previous coworker, “Gary.” Gary is bright, ambitious, and arrogant. He was quite successful, so his arrogance was seemingly justified. It didn’t make him particularly popular. I struggled with negative feelings toward him, so I prayed. I prayed God would change my attitude toward him, and I prayed God would bless him. God turned my attitude completely around. One day another colleague was complaining about Gary, and I said he didn’t bother me. The other coworker said “then you’re the only one!” Those prayers clearly made a difference in how I viewed Gary. Later, as our company was getting taken over and everyone was stressed about losing their jobs, Gary came to my office and said he needed to be in a place where there was positive energy. God took that negative interaction and turned it into a positive relationship. The prayers not only affected me, but Gary took notice as well.

I told Marc that story to show him the power of prayer. I also told him his coworker simply had a confident personality, and in his case, his condescending behavior was unintentional. 

I love writing, and I often wish I could spend more time doing so, since I feel it is my ministry. I was blessed to have time off over Christmas and enjoyed the extra time to write, so it was difficult to go back to the “daily grind.” My day job takes a lot of time, but if I spent all day writing, I wouldn’t interact with any of those people. None of my coworkers are likely to read Christian fiction, and few of them attend church. God put me in that job for a reason. It was such a blessing for Him to make it abundantly clear to me the reason! God puts people into all of our lives. We never know what seeds we may sow. It could be a simple pleasant word to an overworked cashier or a hug for someone who feels alone. Investing in other’s lives is the best investment we can make.

We don’t all have to be pastors or teachers or work in a Christian profession. All of us come into contact with others, and many of the people we meet may not know the Lord. A quote commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi is “Preach the gospel where ever you can; when all else fails, use words.” If we live our lives in such a way that others see a difference in us, they may ask us what that difference is.

1 Peter 3:15 says “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

I challenge you today: pray God would give you opportunities in your everyday interactions to preach the gospel, both in the way you live your life and using words. The only thing we can take with us to heaven is other people, so let’s try to take as many as we can!

            Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for surrounding us with other people. Some of them bless us, and some of them help sharpen our character. Please help us to see them all as your children and please help us to make the most of our interactions so that they may see You in our lives and desire to know You more. In Jesus’ name, Amen.