I started a new job today.  Oh.  It felt good.  It felt frightening.  It felt God-given.  After months of unemployment, it felt good to be called an employee.  Again.  God is good.  All the time.  All the time.  God is good.

I want to remember this day.  I want to remember the joy I felt as I walked through the door for the first time as an employee.  I want to remember the expectation of good days to come.  Of successes.  Of new friendships.  Of finding my purpose for being there.

When I’m down in the weeds of work.  Researching.  Writing.  Discussing.  Preparing reports.  Fighting to make the world a better place.  I want to remember the joy of this new beginning.  I want to be thankful for the opportunity to struggle with meeting a deadline.  I want to appreciate the hard fought battle of gathering information and making things right.  I want to feel joyful that God has provided an opportunity for me to serve Him in a new place.  A new setting.  A new beginning.

Oh.  There will be struggles.  There will be deadlines.  There will be too much work and too little time.  There will be differences of opinion.  There will be collaboration.  There will be a plethora of learning.  There will be hard fought battles.

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Colossians 3:23

I want the challenge.  I accepted the offer.  Now I must be willing to accept everything that comes along with that offer.  The good.  The bad.  The ugly.  I hope and pray there isn’t much ugly.  But one never knows.  Personalities clash.  Timelines are crunched.  Budgets grow tight.  Tempers flare.  But through it all, I want to remember.  I want to remember the act of walking through the door on this first day.  I want to remember the art of appreciation when I am fed up with the system.  When all I can see is red tape and slowness of progress.  I want to appreciate being employed.  For being employed even in a bad job is better than not being employed.  That’s easy to say.  It’s not always easy to live through bad employment.  It’s even worse living through unemployment.  But both are survivable.  I know.  I’ve lived through both.  That’s why I want to remember this day.  And appreciate it for all it’s worth.

I was welcomed by new coworkers. New names. New faces.  New opportunities.  New office.  New surroundings.  New routines.  I welcome the discomfort of being new.  Of not knowing the system.  Of having to learn the ropes.  Of being the newbie.  Because it will become familiar.

New becomes familiar.  Familiar becomes routine.  Routine become boredom.  Boredom becomes complacency. Complacency becomes death for 40 hours a week.  That is what I don’t want.

So.  For this new beginning, I say thank you to God.  Thank you for providing me with a new job.  Thank you for listening to my heartfelt prayers.  Thank you for all the interviews you sent my way.  Thank you for giving me the ability to earn a living.  Thank you, God.