Introduction: If you know anything about me, you are likely to know that I cherish few things more than reading. I read primarily deeply, but try to also read widely.

That was not always the case. I used to focus nearly exclusively on theology, history, and literature–especially on accounts of Vietnam. I read Tim O’Brien, Caputo, and Del Vecchio, and more novels and accounts of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen than you are likely to imagine. I just could not get enough. So much shifted in the 1960s and 1970s. Assassinations, drugs, corruptions, politics, secularism, feminism, more corruption, scandals, Vietnam, hippies, rock-n-roll, LSD, cover-ups, more corruption, more reports and scenes of Hueys in SE Asia, of Walter Cronkite, of Mike Wallace, of Simon and Garfunkel, of burning draft cards, of race riots, of Selma, AL, and Atlanta, GA, and of Oxford, MS, etc.

Multiple worn, worn-out, marginalia-ridden novels and memoirs of tunnel rats in Cambodia, and reconnaissance troops in the Balkans, and nested scouts in NE Europe in the Great War, fill my shelves. More, probably, than is psychologically healthy.

And that’s what leads me, among other things, to some of this week’s reading:

A Book:

This is where the breadth part enters. Crowley is a businessman. I am not; I’m in Christian ministry. I am in the people business. Soul business. Eternity business.

I’ve never been wealthy and don’t aim to be. But I do labor hard and (I hope) wisely. I try to focus on nothing less than what endures. It may sound pompous but here it goes: I try to labor for eternity. For that which endures. What endures are people. People’s souls. Their lives. What made them who they were and are.

I was blessed in certain ways to be not unfamiliar with many of the comforts that lucre can bring. I had a blended upbringing where some of wealth’s comforts were sometimes clear.

I know what it’s like to have more forks at the table than are necessary to eat. I know what it’s like to be on sailboats. I know what it’s like to use a driver and watch men drink a Bloody Mary or Gin & Tonic, and tap their gold-bedecked smooth hands upon the oak table at the country club, while the Jaguars and BMWs are pulled to the front door, and the young man with white gloves dons a smile as perfect as Brad Pitt’s, and opens the door for you and extends his fingers for the understood transaction.

But is there more? Is it possible that one could be quite dissatisfied, even empty, with the aforementioned? For literary types, is it possible Jay Gatsby was quite the fool, along with Daisy Buchanan? Mark 8:36 is not just a nice story in the Bible but a warning to search our souls and be honest about who and what we really worship.

Jaguars and BMWs are absolutely gorgeous, but I’ve never owned them. I have had Jeeps and Chevrolets and Fords and Hondas and Subarus and Nissans, however. No one has ever accused me of being showy via vehicles.

I know, I know, the book …

So Crowley cites another author’s 6 questions about how and why so many folks are dissatisfied in their jobs. The bottom line is, the jobs don’t reach them, not at their core.

And here are the (6):

Six Questions:

1. Do you get a sense of pride out of associating with the organization where you work?
2. Do you enjoy the relationships you have at work?
3. Do you get a sense of fulfillment from your work?
4. Because of these cognitive and emotional attachments, do you intend to behave in a different way?
5. Are you more inclined to apply discretionary effort at work?
6. Are you inclined to stay working at your job even if you may have opportunities outside the organization as attractive as what you have today?

An Unscientific Concluding Postscript:

Kierkegaard notwithstanding, one of the best bosses I ever had was the one who recognized what fed my soul, and he let me pursue it to the best of my ability, and it served the organization. He benefited, too. Often. From my efforts. But I did not mind. Why? Because I was allowed to do what I was gifted in.

Then I have had other bosses, and they trusted me to work hard and make them even more successful. I think I have done that. I am forever grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given and I have tried to work quite hard to demonstrate excellence and show what faithful ministry can do.

And I’ve had the micro-managers, too, who want to look over my shoulder, read my emails, and know what I’m doing at every second of every hour. I absolutlely shut down under those types. Zero. They sabotage all joy, all motivation, all love of the job.

My Takeaway? Know your people. Entrust them to do well. If they don’t, talk to them and find out why. And if necessary, let them go.

But if you listen, and care, and are not stuck on yourself, it is possible God has given you someone special, one who can make you and the organization better.

Encourage him/her. Trust him/her.

And watch.

And learn.