Sowing and Reaping: Lessons from the Work Place

Conversations this morning make me remember some of the things I've went through the past few years and I begin to remember what kept me going in the work place.  

I remember waking up everyday to the thought that if I can just encourage a few people for that day, I've done my job.  

The workplace environment is not always a friendly place to be in especially when the job forgets that underneath the effort is a human heart longing for fulfillment, for provision, for purpose, for significance.  But I was always able to go beyond what the workplace couldn't give me because I found an internal reservoir of encouragement that always strengthened me. Unfortunately, I cannot always conjure these things up from nowhere.  It's not something out of "willpower".  I realized that what sustained me wasn't found in just how I was able to rely on something intrinsic.  

Over time, I've toughened myself up and stopped caring about the heart of organizations.  I eventually just did the job despite the effects it had on my own heart.  Then my desire started to wilt away and I shrivelled up like a prune almost dead to all kinds of motivation until I realized just a few days ago that I carried a great big burden of feeling like I failed. 

I failed at encouraging everyone and I failed at encouraging myself.  

That was the one purpose I held on for a long time and I couldn't do it.  This morning I was reminded by the different seasons of harvest.  Sowing and reaping happen in cycles and sometimes those who sow reap.  Sometimes those who sow, just sow.  

The harvest comes and is reaped in its own time and those who see it are blessed.  Today I can say that I'm blessed to have learned that what I've taught some people in the work place about values they can keep and  can anchor themselves on have grown into something they really believe in.  It's not everyday I am told that I've managed to break through other people.  It's not everyday I am told that what I've done actually meant something.  So I am grateful that I learned and I realized that the reasons that keeps me surviving the work place is the same reason a few others are able to survive as well.