Have you ever seen water spiders walking on top of the water? The only way that they can do that is because of the surface tension of the water.
Have you ever thought about tensions in life? I firmly believe that some of the tensions we feel in life are gifts from God. They focus us on what is good, right and pure in this life.
Michelle Johnson, who is a part of the Facility Care Team wrote a paper for her college English course which was very good. It describes the tensions she has in her life, working full time for a large company and working part time here at GCC in the Facility Care area. Below is that essay:
Occupations of War and Peace
I often wonder why I work two jobs. Perhaps it’s because a single person needs to in order to make financial ends meet. Maybe it’s to keep busy and active. No, the reason is because my part-time job is simplistic in comparison to my full-time job. My title at my full-time “real job” is Administrative Services Supervisor where I manager unique employees and face challenges regularly. My second job is that of a janitor for a community church. Funny how I deal with crap at both jobs, yet the two are quite different indeed.
Working for three decades at Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, I have worked in six different departments, held nine distinctive positions and endured 11 bosses. I wear a number of hats in my position as Administrative Supervisor. Besides my supervisory duties, I am responsible for the office Risk Control Committee, which is just a fancy name for Safety Team. I am a group leader for the Local Emergency Response team, which I can not bow out of like others on the team seem to do. I receive an average of 50 emails a day so I am often glued to a computer. I oversee the mail and postage activities for the entire office, as well as the front reception desk and pretty much everything in between. Most people think I run the building, that I am the one in charge. In actuality I am not high man on the totem pole, and I thank God I’m not.
I have a staff of four employees and the personality conflicts of a group of teenage girls going through puberty. There are three women with entirely different personalities and one unmotivated man. I have one that is a go getter, but has little respect for authority and another that keeps score. The new kid on the block is labeled as Mary Poppins with a knife and a guy who thinks moving up the ladder means being kind to attractive, single women. I have found myself in the Human Resource’s office more than I care to admit.
Being employed at the same location for 30 years has its perks. I have seven weeks of vacation every year. A hefty retirement fund and a pretty impressive 401K plan. My reputation is notable which makes it hard to fire someone with so many years. The downside is big corporations make big changes but I have survived a number of relocations and phase outs.
My part-time job is nothing like my “real job”. At the church, I am on the Facility Care staff, which is simply a fancy name for cleaning crew. While working at this job I don’t have major decisions to make, no computer to sit in front of, and no griping employees to supervise. I work for a supervisor who hugs or high-fives me when we see each other. I engage with versatile co-workers who pray for me and smile when I walk into the room.
My job duties are to keep the facility clean, make a good impression, and serve and help people take their next step toward God. I clean everything from the restrooms, to the children’s classrooms to the pastor’s office. There is no stress and when it comes to conflict the answer is found in scripture rather than the Human Resource rep.
The down side of working part-time for a church is no vacation days. I am at the mercy of finding someone to cover my hours. There is no financial nest egg or company matching retirement fund, however, I understand that I won’t need that anyway in the long run.
So the crap of a big corporation and troubled employees to the crap of cleaning toilets and emptying diaper pails distinctly has its differences. Financially I don’t need to work this part-time job, and I don’t need to add more to the busy lifestyle I already lead. I just don’t want to give it up. It’s an escape away from the “real job”. There is peace and honor in being a janitor at a church versus the stress and conflict of a high profile supervisor at a big corporation.
What about you? When you do a seemly small task or something that is in the background, that no one else notices, do you feel "peace" and see "honor" in those tasks? We should!
