I sat yesterday with seven coworkers. They were eagerly sharing their views on how I as a manager could improve the quality of their work life. Their conversation was engaging, encouraging, scary, insightful, and na?ve all at the same time. I found myself drifting back to myself in another time and place, wondering if I walked in their steps.
People who work for someone always have an interesting perspective. Often issues come down to communication; a lack of shared listening, differing use and understanding of words, and contrasting value systems. What worked for one group in the past will probably not work in the current. Legitimate, honest, and focused management actions of yesterday appear to be manipulative, dictatorial, and random events to people in the present.
Our conversation explored the past in context of the future. You could see the awareness dawn as perspectives and motives unfolded. With understanding came an appreciation for what is in place. With the foundation establish a new opportunities emerged that will benefit everyone involved.
My relationship with God often follows this pattern. I hate rules with a passion! I find them arbitrary and often inappropriate to living out the values I hold with God. Having said that, “the law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork.” (Romans 7.7) So where does this leave us?
God gave facts (rules or laws) to a people searching to know right and wrong. They were always a starting point; they were never a destination in and of themselves! I know people have and continue to use Biblical rules as a hammer to dictate how we should behave. The only conclusion I see is that God never, ever intended them for this use!
God’s actions always focus on helping me see who he is clearly. It is his purpose that I experience the joy, peace, and free life that comes in a relationship. Seeing the facts allows me to begin a journey into freedom! This is what I seek. You can to.
