As I start my 18th year as an educator, I reflect on the experiences I have learned from, people who have impacted my life and ways I have learned to excel in my job. In recent years, I have flipped these reflections around to also focus on how I can help others learn, the impact I can have on other people, and how I can help others excel in their jobs. Most years I try to pick a motto, tagline or person from the Bible to guide my goal for the year. For example, one year I picked Esther because I had a job outside the classroom that was usually occupied by men. Yet Esther was a great model of leaning on God for guidance and God orchestrated the timing perfectly “for such a time as this” from Esther 4:14.
This year, I’m focusing on my tagline I use on my professional Twitter profile, “Committed to helping teachers and students be their best.” It stems from the two commandments Jesus gives in Matthew 22:37-40. It guides my professional goal all year long. It helps me narrow my focus when taking on too many tasks. It helps guide my communication when there’s so much to listen to. It helps me feel accomplished when the to-do list gets too long.
Take a moment to create your motto or tagline or person from the Bible to guide your goal for this year, whether you’re in education or not, you are helping others learn, you are impacting others’ lives and you can strive to excel in your job.
Now, when you have a professional goal, it can help your focus. For me, my goal is rooted in Loving God and Loving others (see Matthew 22:37-40). I have the following Bible verse on my desk, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” from Colossians 3:23. This means that when I work hard to excel in my job, I do so out of thankfulness for the talents God has given me. I strive to give God the glory. I am not working to please humans or to manipulate the right connections to get certain opportunities or using my words to gain favor from others whether through truth or lies. Of course I’m not perfect, so I have fallen into these traps in the past. But I work hard not to. It can be a slippery slope when one doesn’t recognize these traps and lets it control their lives. Can you relate to what I’m talking about?
The so called kiss-up? Or the person with the hidden agenda? That person who spreads rumors, lies or gossips with the intention of trying to destroy one’s integrity or reputation? In Hosanna Wong’s book, I Have a New Name, she makes a good visual using marathon runners. Experienced runners who know how to run a marathon do all the right moves, but runners who don’t know how to run can mess up the race for others. For example, if someone were to stop running to tie their shoelaces, that would cause the runners behind him to stumble and fall. Hosanna explains that people running a bad race can ruin the race for others. In life, people who are in a bad place can try to cause something bad in others’ lives.
What does this mean in the workplace? When you are doing well with your professional goal and sticking to what you want to accomplish, you may encounter colleagues who try to steer you off your path with ill-intentioned words or actions. Those who do so may be coming from a place of brokenness and are off of their own path of goals they wanted to accomplish. How we handle this? I can speak from experience.
First, my identity is not in my job. This might sound contradictory to me wanting to excel in my job. Wanting to excel and do my job the best I can doesn’t mean that‘s who I am. Who I am is identified in who God made me. Again, Hosanna Wong’s Spoken Poetry titled “I Have a New Name” is one great example of understanding our identity in who God made us to be.
With my identity in being in who God made me, that helps me to see things as God sees them. Those coming from a broken path need God’s love. Sure, those people don’t deserve my love, but I don’t deserve God’s love. They don’t deserve my forgiveness, but I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. They don’t deserve my mercy and grace, but I don’t deserve God’s mercy and grace. God loves us, forgives us, gives us mercy and grace, not because we deserve it or can earn it, but because He gives freely. When we strive to do the same for others, it helps us let a lot of things go. It gives us peace. The kind of peace we can show others who are broken and may need love, forgiveness, grace, mercy.
Is this easy? No way. As Jesus was being mocked and dying on the cross, He said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”, Luke 23:34. I can’t imagine saying this same thing if I were in that position. But Jesus set an example for us, one that we can strive for. So when someone lies about me, I can work towards saying, Father, forgive them for they know not what they say and help me to show them your love.
Going back to my professional goal of helping teachers and students, I will focus my efforts on this, but it is much deeper than just helping with things seen. It is the things unseen - showing love, forgiveness, grace and mercy. I will be striving for these things this year. Will I always get it right? No. But that’s where God’s love, forgiveness, grace and mercy comes in for me as well.
Here are some questions for you to ponder. What is your professional goal? What actions will you take and what kind of words will you use to work towards your goal? How will you react to others when they try to steer you off the path of your goal?
I am excited for the opportunities that lay ahead in this coming year. I hope that when I am met with someone who comes from a broken path that I can either steer them in the right direction or show them the love, forgiveness, grace and mercy that God shows me.
