Work Ethic

How far are you willing to go to complete a job? Do you stop at O.K.? How about good enough? If your attitude is to just meet a low threshold, then you can never achieve excellence. It may be menial work that gives you no pleasure. It may be that you would rather be doing something else so you rush through your work and do just enough to get by, just so nobody complains. It may be that you will get no recognition no matter how much effort you pour out. However, I would argue that a slothful approach to one's work, a poor work ethic, and a point of view where one is always seeking to cut corners, are not just poor character traits, they are wholly unbiblical attitudes. There are several relevant reminders in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 14:23 - "All hard work brings a profit."

Proverbs 18:9 - "One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys."

Therefore as you go about tasks in your workaday lives, keep in mind that giving your full effort is a Godly way to approach your responsibilities. Good work habits lead to success and consistency in our approach and are essential to stave off bad habits. Seek excellence in all that you do.

You Stinking Moron

Have you ever said something under your breath in a moment of elevated tension or anxiety that did not reflect in any way who you were as a person or what you believed in? Said something that was mean-spirited and unfair and uncalled for? Maybe you were just in a surly mood to begin with or maybe something caught you totally by surprise. Akin to swearing when you hit yourself with a hammer, it just kind of comes out of you. Well, I catch myself all too often in this trap. Most often this happens when someone cuts me off in traffic or commits some other self-perceived, inconsiderate offense that affects my life. Some might say that this is just an innocent release, maybe even a victimless sin. Lately I have been trying to recognize that this is an aspect of me that needs attention and work. I find that after a deep breath or two (or five or six for an especially egregious offense), I have to say to myself quite sternly that the other person made a mistake or might have something on their mind or didn't see me. I forgive them for the offense and I ask forgiveness for my reaction. It might seem kind of silly but this little exercise does a couple of things that fosters self-improvement.

• I realize sinful behavior on my part and seek forgiveness for it.
  
• I recognize an area of myself that needs work and give it immediate attention.
  
• I release frustration and negativity that sometimes can stick with me and chew me up on the inside for a couple of hours.
  
• I forgive others and give them the benefit of the doubt, which helps defuse my natural inclination towards elitist tendencies.
  
• I save my energy and emotions for things that matter a whole heck of a lot more.
  

Grind My Gears I

Do little things set you off, you know, really grind your gears? I have a seemingly unending list of things that other people do that cause me to spit and turn red and gnash my teeth. My beef today, the inspiration behind today's blog post, is with people who slow down and come to a stop well before the stop line at a red light. I am not expecting that people will aim for complete precision when stopping their vehicles at the stop line. I am not some sports-jacket-wearing commie espousing some sort of super high-tech measurement/verification system that gives severe electric shocks to those who fall even slightly outside of a predetermined threshold. No, but I do believe it is reasonable for folks to pull smoothly and rapidly up to the stop line and stop their vehicles no more than a foot or two behind the line. However, there are some folks who slow their cars down to below 5 m.p.h. at least 200 feet before the line and then turtleishously creep forward or come to a full stop after pondering their stopping point and deciding that they have good and well gone far enough on their journeys for the time being. If you are one of these "people", hear me now and hear me good. Knock it off or my hired goons (Moose and Rocco) will hunt you down and do unspeakable things to you and the air freshener in your car. Am I clear?

Free Cake

I can picture famous comedian Jerry Seinfeld asking the question in his nasally voice, clear as day, "So, what's the deal with free cake?". Where I work it seems there are lots of occasions where someone lays out free cake in the lobby or near one of the secretary's desks. Two very distinct groups then begin to emerge. One group, the spreaders, immediately drops everything they are working on to go door to door to share the news, to get the word out. It becomes to them the most important mission of their lives. They hang up on people mid conversation, they literally drop whatever is in their arms wherever they happen to be standing, they hoot like rabid owls, and they sprint out of their offices. The second group, the receivers, are the folks who take in the news. They follow exactly the same pattern as the spreaders, sprinting away from their work to get to the location of the alledged free cake. They bark and yowl repeatedly. They don't care if they have to push over the elderly or trample on babies. As they run wildly about, they begin to turn into spreaders themselves. These people, the spreaders and the receivers, are fanatical. They seem to immediately turn into zombies. They drop all decorum and lose the ability to control their bladders, all over the promise of free cake. So, what is the deal with free cake? Is it really the food product, or do they hate their work so much that they would look for any excuse to do something else? It's not even like the cake that is served is anything special. What am I not understanding?

Bumper Stickers

I rarely see bumper stickers on expensive cars. This is probably because this form of protest is the prattle of the middle and lower classes who feel that their edgy bumper sticker is their only means of true self-expression, the only way that they can "stick" it to the man. It could also be that people are really only using bumper stickers to cover up areas of their car where the paint is peeling or there is a scrape or ding, a problem less prevelant on newer models. I took a walking tour of my parking lot at work and jotted down the bumper stickers that I came across. Enjoy.

• "Gated community" - an oxymoron?
  
• Support our troops
  
• Jon Stewart for president '08
  
• Bush and Cheney, kiss my Ashcroft
  
• There is no Planet B
  
• Got sushi?
  
• W'04
  
• Had enough? Vote democrat
  
• Proud parent of an honor roll student
  
• The trouble with pickles
  

Slave to the Bean

I wrote a blog a couple of months ago on Addictions and the powerful hold they can have on our lives. That blog was written from a personal point of view as I was considering behaviors and thoughts from my own life. I have continued to think about this topic, and one thing that I have come to understand is that feeding our addictions does not satiate us or fill some need once and for all. It only leads to stronger urges and stronger callings. Addictions cannot be fed and then put on the shelf for a while. I was reminded of this from a good friend of mine who is a real slave to the bean. He is always toting around a huge mug of coffee. He knows the exact location of every Starbucks in every town that he visits. He will not even attempt to function without ensuring that his java source is secure. The trouble is that every time I see him, he is struggling to stay awake and alert. In every meeting we are in together, he cannot keep his eyes open for more than 10 minutes. He looks exhausted all the time. His efforts to stay awake almost look painful. The more he feeds his coffee addiction, the worse he seems to get. Romancing the bean or whatever it is we think we need to function, to get by, to survive, is a pump that cannot be primed, a pail that cannot be filled, a fire that cannot be quenched. Ultimately it will come to dominate our life and define who we are.

Spiritual Sugar

Today's entry comes from Francis De Sales. Francis lived back in the late 1500s and early 1600s and was the bishop of Geneva. Because of his position and views and extensive writings, he became known as one of the "doctors of the Western Church". Let his words wash over you. Relax and enjoy. (Repeat reading if necessary and as needed.)

Sugar sweetens green fruit and in ripe fruit corrects whatever is crude and unwholesome. Now devotion is true spiritual sugar for it removes bitterness from discipline and anything harmful from our consolations. From the poor it takes away discontent, care from the rich, grief from the oppressed, pride from the exalted, melancholy from the solitary, and facturedness from those who live in society.

It serves with equal benefit as fire in winter and dew in summer. It knows how to use prosperity and how to endure want. It makes both honor and contempt useful to us. It accepts pleasure and pain with a heart that is nearly always the same, and it fills us with a marvelous sweetness.