Do What You Love….

For your consideration…..

Today’s message actually came in as a  quote and book by Martha Sinetar, Do What You Love And The Money Will Follow.

Of course, the message is about following your passion and doing what you love. Often you see the “Do what you love….” quote posted on a picture of a musician or an artist. Clearly Michelangelo understood this as referenced by the above quote.

However, today’s message is not referencing artists. Instead it is focused on professions of service. When today’s message came in, I recognized myself. I recognized my uncle. I recognized teachers I work with.

You see our society does not reward those who serve. They get their rewards from the people they help. Rarely are they paid what they deserve. In fact, the pay scale for their profession supports the most humble of life styles.

As parents, friends and relatives we encourage our young adults into professions where they can make a “good living.” We encourage them to pick professions that pay well. Even more than that we discourage them from following their passion if it does not readily pay well. We do this out of love. We don’t want to see them struggle.

I am no different. I would not have chosen nursing for my oldest daughter. Yet she pursued and has become a nurse with a stellar reputation. She has personally saved lives. She has a God-given talent for soothing and comforting patients and family. Yes, her and her husband are not rich but they do alright and the lives she has touched is uncountable.

My husband and I would not have chosen the United States Naval Academy for our youngest daughter. My husband especially, was dead set against it. But she decided in 5th grade after a week at Space Camp that she was going to go to USNA and fly for the Navy. And so she has. She has served this country well. She is passionate about defending it. Who can argue? I don’t want to go do it. Most people want the country safe but do not want to do it or want their children to do it. As the world has become more dangerous, our military has been decimated in the last few years and our men and women who serve are asked to do more.

Recently, I heard a news report that 25% of all social workers are leaving the field at a time when addiction is sky rocketing and more of them are needed. Who encourages family or friends to go into social work? The pay is notoriously low. The work hours are long. The stress is high. Yet the work they do is so necessary. We do not encourage our loved ones to become a social worker. Those who do despite all the discouragement, do so with a heart and passion critical to the web of our society.

I have yet to meet a teacher who encourages their child(ren) to go into teaching. These men and women who we entrust the care of our most precious loved ones get paid very little for the job they do. STOP! I do not want to hear about all of the “time off” they have. Most good teachers put in many many extra hours besides the school day. The time they get to “lesson plan” is barely enough to pull and make copies. They correct work, shop, meet with parents, set up displays etc. They are much more than teachers. They are counselors, protectors, cheerleaders, social workers, writers etc. I have yet to meet a teacher who does not spend much of their salary to buy supplies for their classroom. Seriously, who is going to raise their hand and volunteer to be a teacher especially on the pay scale they are now on. Many teachers are currently making less money than they did 5 years ago and it wasn’t good money then.

Do I need to go on about our firefighters and police officers? With the current attack on police officers, who is going to encourage their loved one to become one? Where will our society be when we do not have enough officers willing to serve?

What we are being asked to do today is stop and give pause. When we have young ones who have a passion to serve, lets hear them out. Yes, we can point out the pros and cons but lets not discourage their passion. They are chosen. They are desperately needed.

That is the HOPE. And so it is.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, HOPE by HOPE action steps anyone can take….

-Meditate/pray…ask…”What is my next step for my highest good and the highest good of all?”

-Drink lots of water.

-Get outdoors and take in at least 10 deep breaths.

-Be grateful for those who serve.

What made me smile yesterday….

-I had a great class…one of my favorites.

-Sunshine and snow…..fun, fun, fun.

-A viber call with my niece in Nicaragua.

-An early bed and lots of Emergence C to try and ward off this could that I have been fighting. (by this late post you can tell I didn’t succeed. Ugh.)

Love, Blessings and Gratitude,

Rev. Chris