To the Only One Who Can Work This Out...

Most Precious and Holy God,

Thank for gifting me with a vocation, a calling...rather than just a job. Thank for putting in a place where I can share your love with others. I cherish the smiles, the hugs, the thank-yous, the peace I see in the eyes of new parents as they entrust their children to us.

Lord, you alone are powerful enough and wise enough to really make a difference with the situations at work. Anytime you have people working together there is always conflict of some kind. Help us, Lord. Help us to be bold enough and courageous enough to not gossip about one another - to confront each other with gentleness and mercy when we have offended each other. It is especially hard, I think, to work in an environment that is comprised of only women. The more I exist in this kind of work-place, the more awe I have in your creation; that you created men and women to be counterparts, to be complimentary, to be in balance.

I am tired, Father. I am tired of the bickering, the back-biting, the ugliness of some of my staff at work. I am tired of knowing, but not knowing because no one will come to me, where the problems lie. Help me to be strong here; to be courageous enough myself to do whatever you would have me do to create a more peaceful workplace. Lord, there may be a couple of tough decisions that have to be made in the next few weeks--grant me wisdom to know what you would have me do and then remind me that You will never give me more than I can handle. Help me to reside in you always-to be ever-aware of how You would have me act and react; to be graceful; to be merciful; to be forgiving...even when I don't want to.

Holy God, my strength lies in You. It is so hard to be in charge of so many young persons. I remember being 20-30 yrs old and thinking that I had it all under control and that things were either right or wrong. What I would give for that decisiveness again! Black and white was so much easier than all this gray. Help me to know what situations are being driven by immaturity and how I can help with those places by coaching or mentoring. Help me to know when a situation is just not working out and how You would have me correct that.

Lord, you know my heart; you know my soul; you know my mind and you know my strength. I would do whatever you would have me do...I just don't know what that is! In Your Son's most Holy and Precious Name, Amen.