my worth is determined by GOD alone

My soul finds rest in God alone my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation.  He is my fortress I will never be shaken.

Psalm 62: 1 & 2

My worth is determined by God.

It is not determined by my boss. No matter how tempting it may be to strive for his personal approval. I should do my job, do it to the best of my ability, enjoy being here and leave it at that.

It is not determined by how well I sing on any given day. As tempting as it may be to base my worth on my performance, I have to resist that urge and just immerse myself in worshiping the Most High.

It is not determined by how many friends I have or who invites me to lunch on Sundays. I’m really bad about this one. When I was a kid it was a mark of “wealth” and Popularity to go out to lunch on Sundays after church. I am constantly surprised at how much my heart aches when we occasionally go home from church with no social engagement. Which is crazy because most of the time I am just flat exhausted by Sunday afternoon and would probably be better off with a nap anyway.

My worth is not determined by how quickly I can look up a bible reference or how many bible verses I can quote by heart. Christianity is NOT a competition sport.

it is not determined by how long I’ve been a Christian. People who are “older in Christ” have no more or less worth than I. We are ALL children of the King.

My worth is not determined by how many hits my blog gets per day. As we have had various “big news” items come up in our lives the past few weeks I have been getting really big spikes in my “readership” but they are temporary. And I always put huge pressure on myself to “come up with something really good to post about” the day after a spike. Hoping to retain some of the new readers.

My worth is also NOT determined by my physical appearance. Yes I am overweight. Yes I need to do something about it. But the act of “doing something about it” should not be motivated by a type of self-hate. It should be motivated by a love for my creator who dwells in me and whom I, to a certain extent, represent. At least to the folks around me.

Think about it. If I am depressed or upset by criticism, if I allow my popularity to dictate my mood, if I come in to work depressed because I’m not in favor with the boss this week (which is what happened this morning and what prompted me to write this post), a very clear picture forms in the minds of my co-workers. “oh, she is no different from us.”

BUT If I cheerfully accept criticism as feedback, if I smile on everyone no matter how they treat me, and if I take care of myself not out of self-hate but out a love for God, a very different picture comes across.

I want to be that second picture.

my boss has hidden talents

You see that unassuming, thirty-something guy in the corner of the table?

The one in the grey shirt?

that’s my boss.

This is him attending the baby shower of a co-worker.

Ya’ll wanna know what this guy brought as his present?

Now before you guess, I have to tell you he is a real guy’s guy. Plays basketball with the faculty, roughhouses with his two kids, stays late at the office etc. Loves football. Has Ph.D from Georgia Tech (but we won’t count that against him).

Any guesses?

He made a cake.

Yup.

A CAKE. It’s actually in the photo above. But just to help you out, here’s another view:

That, my friends, is one of the prettiest DIAPER CAKES I have ever seen. and he made it all by himself! I can prove it. I witnessed him locking himself in his office with ribbons and a couple of cases of newborn and size 1& 2 diapers and an hour an a half later, we were invited in to see the finished product.

Of course he wasn’t the only male to attend that party. So now all the guys in the building know he has been hiding a certain ….side of his character from us.

oh he is so never going to live this down.

my boss is baiting me

I discovered today that my boss knows me waaaaaay too well.

When I walked in to work this morning he was standing near my desk having a discussion about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue with another co-worker.

I let him talk for about three sentences.  Just long enough for me to clock in.

Then I politely jumped into the conversation and let my opinion on the subject be known.

At which point Todd doubles over with laughter.

What?

I was giving a serious opinion!  This is not laughing matter! we are talking about the degeneration of morals and the objectification of all peoples (not just women) and the damage this does to….

He’s STILL laughing at me.

Turns out he was baiting me.  He had set up the whole scene  just to see how long I could go without inserting an opinion.   Three sentences as it turns out.

Great.  So now my boss’ favorite sport is finding subjects which are certain to draw me into an argument.   Lovely.

Fun though.  I do love a good argument.