You’ve worked hard to get a promotion at work, which you feel you deserve, and you do not get it. You can:
A. Claim they’re playing favorites and continue working -- upset about not being treated fairly.
B. Quit and find another job where your abilities are appreciated.
C. Congratulate the person who got the promotion and continue your work, hoping you’ll get the next promotion.
D. Ask what it is you need to do to have a better shot at the next promotion and work to improve your standing with the bosses.
Analysis:
A. It’s difficult to know that the claim of favoritism has merit -- and remaining upset and complaining will not win you favor with your supervisor.
B. First, you don’t know if your abilities aren’t appreciated in your present job, and quitting without knowing why you didn’t get the promotion can lead to a repeat of history at the next job.
C. The positive attitude and willingness to work hard is a good start, but don’t you want to know what you need to do to get the promotion next time?
D. The added communication and follow up effort should impress any supervisor. Eventually your dedication will pay off for you.
Hungering for ‘Success’: Hard Work Pays Off
I
was a guard on our freshman basketball team at Ridgeview Junior High School.
I started the season as the third guard but my place on the team diminished
during the season. When we played the teachers we beat them and so a rematch
was demanded. Some of the leaders of our team got together and decided to
cut the team back to the top 10 or 12 players. I was cut by my own teammates.
I was crushed, and now had a choice. Do I accept the implication that I’m
not good enough or do I try and prove I belong? Over the next few years I spent most of my free time practicing, shooting, running. I was committed to show the others that I could play the game. I made the junior varsity at Ottawa Hills, and then my junior year, the varsity. By that time there were only three of us Ridgeview players on the team. One was an all-city center the next year. I never got much playing time, but because of my hunger to succeed, I did.
A Different Kind of Hunger
“Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall have their fill.” In the episode above, what I was hungry for was not something that lasts. By my freshman year in college, I had improved to the point where I had a great outside shot and could leap. I still remember leaping for an offensive rebound in an intramural game, and with my hand above the rim, I gently tapped the ball off the glass for the score. Two or three guys on my team ran up to me, stunned, asking how I did that. Today, I couldn’t get a six inches off the ground without a fork lift. My back usual aches. I’ve got more then love handles. You might say what I hungered and thirsted for had dried up and was gone. Thank God basketball wasn’t my only and most important hunger.
As I have shared before, in a previous article for FAITH Magazine, I had a significant faith experience at camp before my senior year in high school. I opened my heart to God, committing my life to Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit then and now is more then I can describe. There was an emptiness filled then, and I continued to hunger to grow in Christ. He fills me over and over again. The great thing about this hunger and filling is that it doesn’t deteriorate with age. It’s something that goes to the core of whom I am as a person.
Hunger for God
The
hunger for righteousness is a hunger for God. It’s a hunger to be His,
and to love constantly. As we continue to seek after righteousness we change
and continue, by God’s grace, to be more able to love our family, our
classmates, our co-workers. It isn’t about what we have, what we can
do but who we are. Who we are is something that is always becoming. And
if we continue to hunger and thirst for holiness we will continue to grow
into the person that God created us to be. And He created us in His image.We all have important goals in our lives. We want to get a good education to help us live out the vocation to which we are called. We want to provide for our families and help them grow. We want good health especially as we get older. We want acceptance and respect. We can obtain many of these things and still be empty if we haven’t hungered and thirsted for what is holy and what is right. It is this that enables us at the end of the day to be truly satisfied. For we can lose our health, our home, and our careers. In the end it’s us and God. It’s the only thing that lasts so it’s the most important thing along the way.
Peace! Love in Jesus,
Pat Rinker
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