A Botched Job.....

I once had a young lady working for me that really showed signs of someone that I could promote to a position with more authority and responsibility.
She seemed to take pride in her work and was very good with clients and with her work load. I thought that she could take over as office manager and free me up to do more public relations and bring in more customers. I told her of my decision, increased her salary and she was delighted.

At first she did a great job. She was thorough and accepted her new responsibilities and was a genuine asset to the office and to myself. I in turn was able to do some marketing and our client load increased. It increased to the point that I had to hire another girl to work in the office. She did not have any experience in our industry, but she was very good with people and knew a great number of people in town and I felt that she would be a true asset to the company. She was. I trained her and she caught on very quickly. She was a natural. I praised her because she truly deserved it and I wanted to encourage her growth with us. She was the first one in the office in the morning, and she was the last one to leave. She even came in on Saturdays if she had something that she promised a client she would get done and did not have time to attend to during the week. I was finally able to relax a little bit and cut my stress level down to manageable. What I didn't notice was the jealousy brewing in the heart of my office manager.

A couple of weeks later my new girl asked to talk to me. She informed me that the other girl was snapping at her and correcting her and taking work away from her and had taken to calling her demeaning names like flunky. I was really shocked, but I told her that I would keep my eyes and ears open.
She was right. I called in my newly appointed office manager and asked her what was up. She told me that she was always having to correct the new girl on the way she talked to customers. And she complained that the new girl was promising the customers things that she should consult her about first as the manager. In short, she had nothing good to say about the new girl.
I pointed out that she was the manager. She had an important job but I did not think that it was right to have her train the new girl because she was very busy with her responsibilities. It was my decision as the owner to
train the new girl myself. I told her that whatever the new girl was doing
was at my direction and I needed her to calm down, not worry about the new girl and go back to doing the good job she did for me. Instead of just doing that, her jealousy grew, the tension in the office grew and her attitude, in short, became ugly and disruptive. I was sad, because she had done such a good job for me. But she needed all the praise and all the attention all the time. She could not stand for anyone else to do a great job and get praise for it. It was a terrible personality flaw. Sadly, it got to the point that she was making decisions that only I as the owner could make. It got so bad that I had to let her go. I then give her job to the new girl who took on the added responsibility without complaint and did an excellent job.

The same thing happened with King Saul. His jealousy of David became too much for him to bear. In great battles they fought side by side. David did his best for his king. However, when King Saul heard that the people were saying that he had slain thousands, but David had slain ten thousand, he became jealous. His jealousy consumed him to the point that he turned on David and ordered him slain. His jealousy twisted his personality and his judgment and he was no longer able to function in his God given position as King. 1Samuel 28:17 NIRV says, "The Lord has spoken through me and has done what He said He would do. He has torn the Kingdom out of your hands. He has given it to one of your neighbors. He has given it to David."
Jealousy cost King Saul his job too. Not only his job, but the honor that God Himself had bestowed on him by choosing him to be the king. It separated him from God.

In our daily walk, we must always remember that it is a walk with God. If you are obedient and faithful, God will direct your path to the vocation He has chosen for you. He will work through ordinary men to get you to where He wants you to be to do the work for His Kingdom. Do your very best job and remember that even though man may have hired you, you represent God in all that you do. There will be those under you and above you. Bloom where you are planted and don't let pride and jealousy cause you fail God by doing a botched job....Patti