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Holiness in Everyday Life I don't even know where to begin. Our Lord blessed me by waking me (literally and figuratively) at 4 am. What a delight to find your email with Paul's life story attached. I've just finished reading it and am now thoroughly convinced that this trip has indeed been a retreat of sorts. At one point as I was reading I had to stop for a moment to contemplate this most holy man. As I read I would occasionally shed a few tears but not where you'd expect. It wasn't so much his death that caused the tears, but his life. And they were not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. Joy because of how he lived his life for God and loved Jesus and Mary with all his heart and all his soul. His reference to Our Lady as his 'sweetheart' made me smile and filled my heart with such warm emotion at the thought of his natural and simple love for her. That he was able to work in the secular world as God's apostle is a much needed example for me. The figurative awakening reference is because of what Iâ??ve been struggling with over the past few months with regards to my career. As my faith has deepened, drawing me closer to Our Most Blessed Savior I've questioned what I'm doing in corporate America. So many times in the past months I've commented to my co-worker and friend, Donald, that I didn't want to be at [where I am], that I want to be doing the Lord's work. How stupid I've been! Through Paul's example God is revealing to me what my vocation in the workforce is. Where you discuss in your account of Paul's life the gap between faith and every day life really hit home for me. It's something that I haven't been able to fully resolve but as my faith grows I'm more aware of it and more aware of how I need to invoke God's help to bridge that gap. Now I can ask for Paul to intercede as he is all too familiar with the work environment. Interestingly, I had lunch with one of our directors yesterday. She was my boss when we were at a company that was recently acquired by my current company. Although she is no longer my director, she continues to mentor me. She is an extremely compassionate person and a bright light in a difficult environment. After lunch she and I went for a walk around the lagoon on our campus to talk about my career and place at work. As Patricia and I walked and talked she knew I was struggling in my role as manager over the Project Management group. The challenges I'm facing, among others, are being managed by an individual who is less than ethical and the overall unhealthy environment where people will gladly let others fail to save their own skin. In the past few months I've wanted to just bail out of the situation. Amazingly as Patricia spoke to me yesterday she pointed out the areas where I've been an asset, especially where it concerns the care of my staff. I've begun to understand, and especially now after reading about Paul, that I need to be where I am right now, even if it's uncomfortable for me because God is using me to reap benefits for others. As I write this please understand that I know it is only through the grace of God that I'm able to accomplish what I have in this environment. My success is because of Him and in spite of me! My role was further reinforced in a conversation with a woman who works for me as a project manager. She commented that when I came on as manager she was at a point where she was ready to leave. As our relationship developed and she saw how I was leading the team and the decisions I was making for the betterment of the group and the company overall, she made the decision to stay. Again, it's not me. It's God using me as his instrument. And one of the epiphanies that I had last night was that it makes no difference to God where people are in their relationship with Him. He is always looking out for them and caring for them, even if they don't utter a word to him all day, all week or all month. I'm very close to my staff in that over the past several months we've established relationships to where I know a good deal about their personal lives. Knowing some of their trials and tribulations allows me to pray for them without them knowing it, a great blessing that God has given me. I'm seeing what He is doing in their lives, even if they're not aware and it's a beautiful thing! Stephen, I've been a fool thinking that I could only do God's work in a setting typically viewed as religious or godly. He needs me at my workplace and I've been wasting my time, whining and complaining about how rough it is managing here. I pray that going forward, Paul Murphy will intercede and guide me to do the best I can. I've been very committed to my vocation as wife and mother, and now I am beginning to understand my vocation in the corporate world where Jesus needs to be present. Please pray for me that I will humble myself and serve Him well, in spite of whatever difficulties I face. I'm taking my staff out today for an offsite meeting. We're going to visit Alcatraz and then have lunch at a restaurant on the Wharf where I will share with them the future of our group as articulated to me by our Executive VP of Information Technology. It will be welcome words for them as they've been much maligned the past few years. Thank you again for contributing to my 'retreat' this week! |