Features - Work

It starts out as a caterpillar; the only “cute” creepy crawly insect I know. Next stop, cocoon, and finally the caterpillar fulfills her destiny as a butterfly. We humans transform too. And one way we track our progress is by the way we work.
Using nature as our guide, let’s look at three stages in professional development:

1. Caterpillar - Lay low, slowly and deliberately explore the landscape around you.
2. Cocoon - Keep still, hang out embrace the peace of waiting for change to happen.
3. Butterfly – Take flight, land softly, you are appreciated by those around you.

It’s clear there is an order to pursuing our life’s work. There’s holiness to be found in a job promotion, just as there is humility to be gained in unemployment.
Recognizing every stage of the path to professional transformation is… transformational! You will surely become who you are meant to be. Celebrate your inner butterfly yearning to be free.

-Susan Diamond

Becoming

Thoughts become attitudes,
attitudes become decisions.
Decisions become actions,
actions become habits.
Habits form character,
character shapes our destiny.

Help me to deal with
my thoughts properly.
Then You will fill my life
with a brilliant future.
A future held by You,
transformed with the sowing of right thinking.
Thinking that comes from You.

- Brenda Scott

"What stage is your professional career?
Caterpillar, cocoon or butterfly?"

Features - Work

Clark Kent slips into the telephone booth, swaps his mortal clothes for his Superman suit and leaps out of the booth a super-hero. That’s Nickie’s story too. By day she’s a mild-mannered administrative assistant taking orders from her boss and getting the job done. When she clocks out at 5:00 p.m., she slips into her “phone booth,” an ‘07 Mazda, pops in her Bluetooth and uses the drive home to make her phone calls to the women in her Empowerment Circle.

Nickie is all about the Superman credo: “Truth, justice and the American way.” She’s hell-bent on making sure that women in her community find support and encouragement from one another. That’s why she works so hard to recruit new members and bring self-help experts to the monthly meetings.

Only a few lucky ones can say the work that pays the bills is the work they love. Many passionate people lead double lives. Their day begins all over again after 5 o'clock when they devote themselves to a project or a cause that they believe in. In serving others and leading lives of purpose, we honor the Creator as we better the world around us.

-Susan Diamond

In All I Do

Let me sing Your praise
in all that I am:
nurturing mother,
loving daughter,
faithful wife,
supportive employer,
disciplined employee,
or humble volunteer.

Let me sing Your praise
in all that I do:
bearing up the disappointed,
guiding the lost,
lending strength to the weary,
recognizing the forgotten.

Let me sing Your praise
with my voice:
speaking kind words,
calming tense situations,
refusing to tear another down.
Let me sing Your praise
in my heart.

- Sue Bradford Edwards

"What do you love to do outside of your day job?"

Features - Work

I'm fond of working at home. For one, there's no dress code. And my co-workers are tremendous. Sure, they're catty (they're felines, after all), but they're supportive in their own furry way. Yes, all in all, working from home is a perfect fit for me.

Except for one thing: loneliness. The aforementioned co-workers are pleasant enough, but talking to them makes me feel like I'm going out of my mind. With no one else to discuss ideas with, my creativity sometimes suffers. And it sure would be nice to share a convivial lunch with someone who speaks Human.

That's why it's important for me to belong to on-line writing groups and professional organizations. I also get feedback from writers who I work with virtually. It gives me a sense of community. Hearing from them, I feel blessed and renewed. Whether you're an at-home mom or a freelancer like me, find a way to connect to other adults on a daily basis. God made us social animals for a reason.

-Lori Strawn

Monday Climbing Mountains

Monday...most dreaded day.
It is a day for beginnings—
and beginnings are hard.

I crane my neck to survey the day.
The sheer face of it looks insurmountable.
Take my hand and guide me over this Monday.
Teach me not to fear it,
but to embrace its possibilities.

Show me that Monday
is an opportunity for change, reinvention.
Will You help me take a fresh approach,
a bold, new step in a different direction?

Thank You for the challenge,
and for Your hand to hold as I set out on
the untracked path of a new week.

Let me sing Your praise
with my voice:
speaking kind words,
calming tense situations,
refusing to tear another down.
Let me sing Your praise
in my heart.

- Lori Strawn

"HOW WOULD YOU BEAT THE LONELINESS OF WORKING AT HOME?"

Features - Work

You can’t make this stuff up. Human Resources professionals shared stories of unusual behavior by job applicants:

"She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time."

"A balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to my office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece."

Interviewing for a new job is nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time. Possibilities are right there in front of you, solutions to financial woes waiting in the wings. But first you have to get that job. Here are three helpful tips:

1.    Know the company, and why you want to work there

2.    Be prepared to share your goals, accomplishments and failures

3.    Have passion and ask good questions    

There are times in life when it’s critical to make a good impression. Give yourself every opportunity to show the “suits” across the desk you are worthy and deserving of the job. You’re a team player with a community behind you, and One divine mentor beside you, guiding you towards success. Go for it!.

-Susan Diamond

The Interview

I want this job.
My mind is whirling
with the sense of possibility,
a heart heavy
with the fear of disappointment.

As I go into my interview,
please keep my head clear of what-if's
and my heart clear of if-only's.
Give me the presence of mind
to present the best part of myself;
and please teach me the self-love necessary
to return home feeling proud of the effort I made.

And when all is said and done,
please fill me with gratitude,
so that, whether I am granted this job
or whether I am led to discover a better fit elsewhere,
I can bring You joyful thanks for opportunities
both hoped for and unimagined.

- Abigail Wurdeman

"DO YOU NEED US TO PRAY FOR A NEW JOB FOR YOU, OR FOR SOMEONE WHO NEEDS ONE?"