“The office is a community, and like other communities, it functions best when people are polite and kind to one another. This means being polite to people at every level of the office hierarchy, not just those who are higher up.”
– Complete Book of Etiquette, Amy Vanderbilt, 1952.
DO NOT DESPISE THE SMALL BEGINNINGS
Everything big starts with something small. The size of a mustard seed is so small that it is difficult to see. However, when it grows to full maturity, it is one of the largest plants on the face of the earth. Under favorable conditions, its dimensions, after fully mature, can be ten to twelve feet tall after only five months.
“For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet of the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth (Zechariah 4:10).”
One kernel of corn can produce a stalk with two ears, each having 200 kernels. From those 400 kernels come 400 more stalks, producing 160,000 kernels. From those 160,000 kernels, comes 160,000 more stalks, producing a total of 64 million kernels. The principle of compounding is at work here. Dr. Polly Matzinger was working as a cocktail waitress when she was “discovered” to be a scientist in the making. Today, some think her theory about the immune system could revolutionalize the way we treat disease. For decades, scientists thought that the immune system reacts to foreign cells entering the body. Instead, Dr. Matzinger postulates that the system responds only when it receives signals from injured cells. “Think of the body as a community that welcomes visitors,” she says, “but alerts the cops when someone starts breaking windows. In the same way, the immune system is alerted by damage-induced alarm signals, not foreign cells.” The Danger Model challenges the theory on how the body defends itself. Dr. Matzinger, now section head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, began in an unrelated field of endeavor. This college dropout, dog trainer, jazz musician, carpenter, and waitress, found each of her jobs boring. It was through conversations with faculty members that frequented the bar that she interjected her knowledge about evolutionary adaptations in skunks that got the attention of the faculty. She was then encouraged to become scientist and completed her field of study by earning a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego. “What’s nice about science is if things don’t make sense, you can question them and not get fired for it.”
…walk worthy in the job that you have
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called (Ephesians 4:1).”
Your walk should reflect your calling. Bring credit to His name everyday. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. Live in a manner befitting the divine call that summoned you to salvation.
Source: Give God the Glory! Called to be Light in the Workplace by Kevin Wayne Johnson, 2003, Chapter 1 – Growth.
