Rise above it

When you are stuck the middle of the proverbial worst case scenario, living life in a joyful, productive way involves more than just wading through the hurts and horrors with merely your vital signs intact. I have been there—dreading the alarm clock, and literally dragging yourself to work with the solitary, lofty hope of making to 5:00 without quitting, jumping off the building, or throwing your coffee on someone.

Don’t look for your worth among the feedback and flack of your workplace. Don’t allow your job’s daily ups and downs to be the barometer of your spiritual well-being. Don’t let the pressure of looming deadlines, impossible expectations, and unreasonable demands turn your day into a heavy yoke you begrudgingly put on every day, weighing your head down and robbing you of a broader, higher view. You were intended for greater things than just surviving – you were designed for something better: thriving, in spite of it.

Jesus said that He came to give us life—not just a regular, just-getting-by kind of life, but an abundant life. I am certain, in the context of the Lord’s many directives to us, that his definition of abundance is not so narrow as ours, which we tend to limit to the sum of our bank accounts, the newness of our cars, the number of pretty shoes in our closets, etc. Those things are certainly blessings in their own right, but abundance—true abundance—is an overflowing of good things in your life.

I submit to you this astounding concept, as you stand in the rubble of your career, surrounded by disappointments, limitations, and grown-up mean girls that torment you like those wretched flying monkeys in that childhood movie we all know so well. 

Contemplate this today, as we begin to explore the how-to's of thriving: Joy is not the result of blessings – it is the source.