I have attended this church since 1994. I have heard many sermons from Bishop Walker. They have become all too familiar. However today as in any other day, the word may be the same, but the message always hits me in a different way. I failed to realize this in 2008. I knew it, but had grown tired of the same old song. Listening to today’s message based on scripture reference John 15 about being ready to go the extra mile and lining oneself up with the word caused a familiar revelation.
The scripture talks about being connected to the true vine which is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and purging ourselves from those that mean us no good or only hang around and drag us down. I have seldom “purged” anyone from my life that I felt was of immediate danger, threat, or proved non-beneficial to my life. Unless you count men I’ve dated then there have been plenty. However, I consider that a casualty of war. They come and they go. No big deal. I have wondered nonetheless if I have ever been intentionally “purged” from someone’s life without me actually realizing that’s what was happening.
Sidebar-train of thought derailed-insert different but related subject here >Most people have high school and college friends whom they keep in touch with for a lifetime. They know each other’s friends, family, behaviors, dreams, plans, wishes, and desires. I on the other hand, can’t really say I have kept in touch with friends from the past. I also cannot say that I have developed strong bonded relationships with friends past or present. At least not to what my understanding of what friendship is considered.
In my opinion friends are those that spend quality time together doing all sorts of things together. They are friends because in a lot of ways they are alike, but what keeps them friends is the ways in which they differ. You can’t be friends with yourself alone or how else would you grow. The reason for the difference is to experience something new together. Keep each other out of trouble and push each other to be better than the rest. Do I have friends that encourage me? I would say no. Nor do I have friends that discourage me. I have friends that are simply just “friends.” And what does this mean? I have no idea. What I’m saying is I don’t really feel close to my “friends” and I’m not really sure how they feel about me. Maybe it could be me just be me pms-ing this week. Then again, I don't think so.
Now back to my original intended post. > My career and life expectancies I dream of have been halted in part due to my fear of success. I am afraid that the things I want to do will push me into the open to be scrutinized and perhaps summoned for an even greater work. The craziness is that is what I want. I want to be considered an expert professional in my field. I want to be asked to speak on this or write a critique or article about that. I want to be deeply involved in the community and recognized as a great leader and one who brings the masses together for preventive youth services, disseminating stereotypes, and challenging the mindset of society’s distrust and frustration with at-risk youth. And by the way, I am starting to really hate that word “at-risk” to describe our low income multi-barrier families. I am destined to come up with a new more positive adjective to describe this hardworking energetic and creative group.
Hence the message I received from the word, don’t be afraid to be bigger than what you are. This was not the specific words that came out of the bishop’s mouth, but indeed what the Lord delivered to me as I listened to the same sermon I’ve heard more than a few times. This was a new revelation for me, one that I realized one day during my company’s re-organization orientation. After reviewing the new way of doing things the directors hope was that we would buy into the concept and figure out what action steps we would take to make the workplace a more desirable place to start a career and stay. These are the goals and action steps I came up with that I thought would help progress the agency.
1. Help the people we provide services for be more successful
2. Make sure our clients are satisfied with our services
3. Grow our own skills and capabilities
What specific actions can I take to help meet these goals?
Work harder on making the numbers add up in a positive light for the clients more so than for the government
Produce a more sound and qualitative analysis of client needs, services rendered, and true to life roads to self sufficiency (this can be done during surveys/ focus groups etc)
Take a SPSS class.
Improve Excel skills, Leadership development, Practice more on data capture and analysis
Improve writing skills
Release the fear of communication
Build confidence
Think more on a permanent basis rather than temporal
Set higher standards for myself by developing a better sense of self
Writing down my skills and look for ways to improve and add needed skills such as policy analysis, data analysis, data management, organizational management, time management
Do more to ease the stress of someone else's job by doing my job in the most accurate and efficient way possible
Make the effort to be on time, friendly, cooperative, involved, and successful. Continue to recognize that my job today is a building block for my next career move.
I have learned a lot about myself in the last year or so. The issue is putting it use and taking my life and existence to new heights.
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