I Can't Do Anything except through Christ....

I was in charge of quite a large office staff once upon a time. During the
last quarter of the year the volume of work was greater than at any time of
the year. I watched the first year as my staff and I worked as others
before us had worked for years. The way that the paperwork was handled was
antiquated and the work flow was awkward. I stayed late one night and
devised a way for the work to get done quicker and more efficiently. The
next day I had a meeting with my staff and put the new game plan into
effect. We all loved it. Everyone had input and some of my ideas were
tweaked to make things flow even better. None the less, even with the new
work flow in place, we had an enormous work load. I had an assistant who
was very close to me and she worked so hard and never complained about
overtime. She was a young single mom and I wanted her to make the
additional money. I supplied the lunches during that time, and also dinner
when it was necessary for us to work at night, which became more and more
necessary as the year's end approached. Just before the holidays, I came
down with the flu. I worked sick one day and could barely make it through
the day...I left early leaving my assistant in charge. I was out for a
week. My superior called and asked if he needed to send someone to help in
the office when I was out and I assured him that I had equipped my assistant
to do anything in the office and that my staff would be fine. The end of
the year came and all the work had been done ahead of schedule and we were
not worn completely to the bone.

So there we all were sitting at the Holiday banquet thrown by the company.
We mingled and chatted with everyone there. My assistant brought her new
boyfriend and her mom and dad, which struck me just a little odd, but then I
forgot about it and went back to chatting. Finally we all sat down and had
a fabulous meal. The company always spared no expense at the holidays.
Then it was time for the speeches that always accompany company functions.
The speeches were dry as usual and we were all attentive, as usual. But
then they announced that an "Employee of the Year Award" had been created
this year because of the performance of our district and our office in
particular. The Vice President began to speak and one of my staff leaned
over to me and said, "You're not going to like what you hear." I looked at
her and frowned. What had she meant by that? I found out almost
immediately. The Vice President said that someone in our office had taken
the initiative to realize that the "old way" was not a "good way" and had
single handedly come up with the "best way" of streamlining the office and
the work flow and therefore making our office the top producer for the year
in the entire company. Everyone clapped and turned to look toward our
table. I humbly looked down at my plate and blushed. You can not imagine
my surprise when they gave the award to my assistant! That explained why
she had brought her entire family to the banquet! Later I found out that
when I was out sick, she had called the head office for some information and
the President got on the phone to comment on the good numbers he was seeing
and my assistant had told him how she had just turned the office around.
She not only got the award, but she got a raise and one other thing that I
was happy about, and that was a transfer to another office where she would
take over as manager. I was stunned at how she never blinked an eye. She
never apologized. She came back to the office that following Monday just
glowing and going on and on about the banquet. One of the ladies turned on
her and said that I had come up with those ideas and she knew it. She
smiled at the woman and calmly asked, "Is that what she told you?". I just
shook my head and told everyone it was time to get back to work. I did not
let on, but I was hurt. Very hurt. I mean, you see these kind of things in
the movies and on TV, but when it happens in real life it seems surreal. I
had never felt so betrayed.

I got to thinking about this the other day and then I thought of how
wonderful I was because I had never done something like that to anyone. But
then as I thought a little more...I realized that I had done it and that I
still do it a lot! I do it to my Heavenly Father! You know every time that
we boast and brag about something that we accomplish and take all the praise
and glory, we act just like that little assistant. We are so easily caught
up in Pride. None of us does a good or better or best job without the
input, blessing and grace of our Heavenly Father. He and He alone is the
author of all our successes. He has given each one of us all our talents
and abilities to do certain tasks. To accomplish certain feats that others
cannot perform. And yet how many times do we humble ourselves and thank God
for the "great idea", or the "job well done", or the "promotion"? When you
start thinking you're all that, you are on dangerous ground. Please know
that God is willing to go to any lengths to provide for, bless, and protect
His children. However, like a human parent, if He sees that we are getting
too full of ourselves, He is more than willing to hand out attitude
adjustments by allowing correction to enter into our lives. And the degree
to which He will hand out correction will be in line with the degree of
PRIDE in our lives. In case you are wondering what ever became of my
little assistant...she was fired almost a year to the day later. Did I have
anything to do with it? No. I simply turned her over to God for correction
and went on with my life. You see...she not only lied to the company, but
she lied to herself. She did not have the ability to do the things that she
took credit for. No talent equals no job.

In Deuteronomy 8:18 NKJV it states, "But remember the Lord your God, for it
is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth." And in Deut 8:17-20 NKJV
it states, "If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods
(including yourself, your job, money or position etc.) and worship and bow
down to them, I testify against you, you will truly be destroyed. Like the
nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not
obeying the Lord your God." Fair warning to all. Philippians 4:13 NKJV
states, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Better
yet, say it this way....I Can't do anything except through Christ....Patti