Working Girl

I have a summer job!
I'm so glad I have something interesting to share with you; it would have been a little difficult to write a whole post about eating an entire bag of chips by myself or getting in a fight with my mom over suitcases or any one of the other pathetic events that has characterized my life post-college.

In, the first sermon I heard after graduating, the pastor encouraged us to pray for opportunities rather than circumstances.  Not that circumstances aren't important or prayer-worth, but how often does my prayer life become a list of things that I want God to fix or heal or turn around?  Compare that to the number of times I ask God to give me an open door to share the gospel with someone.  It's not even close to being equal.

And so instead of just asking God for a job, I asked him give me a place where I can spread grace.

I don't know what that will look like or what will happen at the end of the summer, but I know where to start. In his commencement speech, Joel Richardson reminded our class that without love we are nothing.  Grace without love is just pity.  So I'm praying for love.  I want to love my coworkers, my boss, the regulars, the first-timers, the out-of-towners, the impatient, the slow, the indecisive, the loud-cellphone talkers.  

I'm not good at unconditional love, I'm good at loving the people who need it or the people I want to love me back.  This summer, I'm asking God to teach me to love the people who don't care, to whom I am nothing more than the face who makes their coffee.

Because, without love I am nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging symbol telling them to have a nice day and not really caring if they do.