Malaise

People who are employed by governments, whether at the federal, state, or local level tend to be described as lazy people who don't do much work and get paid for doing nothing. I have been employed by two municipalities, served in the military, and currently am a federal employee. I have seen the workers that are complained about, I have seen lots of them, I have worked with, for and over more than I care to remember. But they aren't all that way. Oftentimes the government does things in a strange way. Lots of time it is a stupid way. Like spending millions of dollars to build a new building then turning around the next year and selling off all the property including the new building. From time to time the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. I can describe to you a situation where the index finger doesn't know what the social finger is doing. This is seen as status quo and stereotypical when working with (and for) the government. It doesn't have to be, and it isn't always.

One thing I review and comment on is safety. Even when I started I saw things that I had always seen on construction sites as the standard practice, but I learned that the way it's always done isn't always the way it's supposed to be done. In fact, the way it's always done is often the exact opposite of the way it should be done, but most people don't know that. As a result, they continue to do things the wrong way.

These are three examples of things that don't really go together, don't match and are the furthest thing from the Providence of God. And yet, they are all examples of doing things the same way over and over again so many times that the same thing has changed. The "we've always done it this way" mentality changes. Whether from comfort, conformity, lack of problems, laziness, or just plain easier way to do it, the only way to do it is not the only way, not the same way, and most definitely not the right way.

Why do I add God to it all? There is a similar malaise in religion, in churches, in Sunday School classes, in church business meetings, and in the minds and though processes of some who claim to be followers. So much so that some who once picked up their cross have put it down and others never picked it up, simply following along with the crowd convinced they are on the right path.

I'm not the one to point it out specifically. I'm not the guy who will look you over and say, "You're wrong." I'm not the guy who will say, "I'm right, follow me." I'm just a guy who says there are some who are wrong. There are some who aren't carrying their own cross and serving the way we should. I'm just a guy who is trying to make sure I'm doing it the right way. Trying to follow all the safety rules, make sure the right hand knows what the left hand's doing and they both make sense, not just punch a time clock and do my job, and try to keep on the narrow path doing what the Bible says we need to do, and reaching out a hand to those who stumble. Hoping I make a difference: at work, with my work, on the job, and in my walk.

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