Down a Notch or Two: Bringing It All To God by Nancy R. Smith Have you evaluated what you have in YOUR house or are you still thinking more about what you have lost than about what you have? If you have lost a job, are you looking for places to pour out the oil of your skills and talents, including those you may not have used or even thought about in years? Look for the vessels of open opportunity among your former colleagues, but also among your neighbors, your church, and your community. Just keep pouring!

In each of the stories, from the widow who gave her last oil and meal to bake bread for Elijah, and the widow whose children gathered vessels to hold her little bit of oil, through all the feeding miracles in the Gospels where baskets of leftovers were collected, God asks us to take stock of everything we have, to bring it all to God, to give it up, and to trust God’s promise to provide.

Have you evaluated what you have in YOUR house or are you still thinking more about what you have lost than about what you have? If you have lost a job, are you looking for places to pour out the oil of your skills and talents, including those you may not have used or even thought about in years? Look for the vessels of open opportunity among your former colleagues, but also among your neighbors, your church, and your community. Just keep pouring!

You cannot know where your next opportunity may lie, but you can keep pouring as long as there is something or someone somewhere to receive your gift.

Keep pouring. Don’t stop the flow. The oil didn’t run out until there were no more vessels to be gotten from anyone. The loaves and fishes didn’t run out, either, and baskets of leftovers were collected, because people gave what they had.

And in each of the stories -- the ones about the widows and all the feeding stories in the Gospels, when we give all that we are and have to God, it is enough! In fact, it is more than enough!

Dr. Benjamin Hunnicutt goes on to say:

"Job-satisfaction studies over the past 20 years indicate that people are looking for identity, purpose, and meaning in their work, but very few are finding those things…. They aren't finding it because what they're looking for -- salvation from a meaningless life and a senseless world -- simply can't be found at work."⁽¹⁾

If your income and status are not presently at risk, beware the temptation to take comfort in your work and to look to your career for “salvation from a meaningless life and a senseless world.”

When we do lose the income and status associated with our work, we should grieve the loss and move on, knowing that our identity and security are in and from God.

Like the widow in the first story, we must be willing to share even the last that we have.

Like the widow in the second story we must keep pouring out what we have – not till what we have runs out, but as long as there are vessels to receive it.

And as Jesus commanded his disciples,

• "Go and see" what we do have.

• Offer it all to God.
• Trust God that it will be enough.

(1) --Sidebar to "Betrayed by Work" by Pamela Kruger at http://www.fastcompany.com/online/29/betrayed.html  

Nancy Smith is a writer, educator, and ordained deacon whose ministry is to link faith and work, spirituality and justice, passion and ethics. From her own commitment to the Christian faith, she affirms the common spiritual experiences of people of all faiths and encourages inter-religious dialogue. Nancy offers Spiritual Life Retreats as well as workshops on Workplace Spirituality and Career Decisions. All are appropriate for both clergy and laity. Visit her web ministry at www.WorkplaceSpirituality.info