Peace and contentment by Eduard von Grützner (1897)
By the time I get to this point in the week, Father, I am starting to get weary, but I am not quite done, having routes tomorrow and a band trip on Saturday. Help me to stay focused on You through it all, for strength and love and compassion as I interact with so many. Amen.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
I’ve read through the next passage in Luke but something else has been running through my mind today and I feel I need to share it.
Last year this time I was in the middle of my training to drive a school bus. I was about 3 weeks out from my big Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) test and we were really pushing hard with all of it. And interestingly enough I was being trained by a totally different school system.
I have a very good friend who had left Kohl’s sometime before I did to drive bus for them and she had been the one to share their need for new drivers with the addition of a fourth high school in the district. Her invitation (obviously) was very enticing. The position was with a large, relatively affluent school system that actually encompassed the store at which I used to work.
I was so ready to be done with retail – 18 years had done me in. I love kids, so I thought why not?
Though I would have fewer hours the pay rate was more than I had been making and my friend had also shared that the previous Christmas she had received over $300 in gift cards from the kids on her bus! It was a little closer to home, too, which was a plus.
Long story short, to make practicing portions of my training easier, I got permission to work with a bus at my local school district. And through a course of events, I ended up turning down a position with the other school district and accepting one with my local school district – though the hourly rate was less.
I share this to say this…when we really get down to brass tacks, it’s not all about the money. There are so many other blessings about where I work than that. I am a little over one mile from work. (I was 31 miles from the Kohl’s parking lot!) Karen and I see each other almost every day for lunch! I really feel like I am a part of a family and I truly cherish my relationships with my fellow drivers and administration, as well.
Maybe I’m just becoming an old geezer but I am learning to be content. As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:11-13 (AMP),
Not that I speak from [any personal] need, for I have learned to be content [and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy] regardless of my circumstances. I know how to get along and live humbly [in difficult times], and I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [of facing life], whether well-fed or going hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need. I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]
Oct 24th, 2019, Thurs, 5:33 pm
