Just when I start to feel that my paid work is so secular, so unrelated to my Christian values and what makes my life joyful, something meaningful happens. It’s as though God wants to make sure that I don’t forget that I am His instrument, wherever I go and whatever work I engage in. Like today, a day like many others, where I am working in a corporate environment on a project whose meaning is related to financial measures and high performance. After a jam-packed agenda I am packing up and find myself in a one-on-one conversation with an executive. It’s a very serious and business-like conversation with a virtual stranger, but the talk shifted quickly.
I don’t even remember how it happened. I made a chance remark about children, we shared some common parental insights and I made a polite inquiry about family size. All of a sudden I was hearing about the death of a child. Something that happened almost 20 years ago – but on this very day. I listened. I empathized. Tears filled our eyes. I gave a chance for someone, at noon hour on a very busy work day, to pause and give tribute to a 3 year old son that they really, really missed.
I didn’t witness directly – Lord knows my professional ethics mean I have to maintain a neutral stance. But I believe I demonstrated what a Christian is and does when confronted with the pain of another human being. I stopped working, and connected with another human being. In retrospect, I confess that I talked too much and listened too little. In an effort to show empathy and hide discomfort I shared too quickly my own second-hand experiences with the death of a child. Not nearly close enough. But as we shook hands goodbye I knew that the heartfelt conversation would be the most important of my day.
Jill Malleck is a Coach and Organization Development consultant whose company Epiphany at Work provides development solutions that accelerate positive change for individuals and work groups.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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2 comments:
I identify with you, Jill, on two fronts. One, the desire to find SOME way, each day, to at least demonstrate my faith to one person in a practical way ("use words if necessary...") and second, in speaking too much and listening too little, especially when I'm a bit uncomfortable with the emotional content of the conversation. Way to go in DARING to celebrate the God-moment of your day!
Jill,
This is a good reminder to me not to get to busy, too consumed in my own agenda. Leaders need to care and they need to demonstrate that they care.
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