How to Find Meaning in the Mundane – Part 3
© Jennifer Slattery, JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLoud, printed with permission
Read Part 1 here
Read Part 2 here
It’s relatively easy to serve Christ in our safe Christian bubbles or in our planned and church-supported outreach events. It’s another matter entirely to live for Christ in our neighborhoods and at the workplace. Especially if the environment is hostile to us and our faith and shows no signs of improving. But I believe God won’t expand the boundaries of our reach until we prove faithful with the hearts he’s already entrusted to our care (Luke 16:10). To simplify, if you want to do great things for God, live greatly for him where you’re at.
Longtime Christian, devoted husband, father, grandfather and Walmart employee, Terry Palmer, encourages us to view our co-workers with a long-term focus, realizing it can take years, decades even, for Christ to change a heart. “What a challenging area this is for us all!” Palmer says. And one he is quite familiar with. “[While on the job], a co-worker became verbally abusive with hateful remarks directed at me and my faith. My first response of course was to reply in kind, but through a careful step back, I saw the hurt in his eyes. This led me to be careful with my words.” When others turned away, Palmer remained kind and patient. When tragedy hit, the co-worker remembered. “Later his wife became quite ill, and the man had few friends with whom to share. He now seeks me out, initiating discussions on life and religion.”
To join in God’s glorious plan, to find meaning in the degrading and infuriating moment, Palmer first had to crucify his self-preservation and the worldly desires to be liked, respected, and validated.
Consider Paul’s words in Colossians 3:1-3: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the pace of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God” (NLT).
To be continued…