Years ago I faced a situation with my graduate school where I was asking them to allow me to come back and take three more credits so that I could pursue my licensure with the state. The catch? They had to be willing to add on those credits to my already completed Master’s degree because according to the licensing board of Pennsylvania, if my Masters was not 48 credits (mine was 45), then I was not even eligible to pursue the additional twelve credits that I needed to take to become licensed. So, what’s the problem, right? The university gets its money, my thanks, and an even more well-trained alumnus, and I get even more prospects of helping others and making some more money. All good, right? Nope. They wouldn’t do it and their final response to me was that although they would not allow me to take three more credits and add them to my Master’s, they would gladly allow me to take an entirely new Master’s program at their university that was more than 48 credits and upon completion I would be all set (and about another $30,000 in debt) to pursue my license. Well, can you guess what I was after I heard their response? Come on…you know… BITTER! So bitter that I ended up contacting a Senator and asked him to go and take a few swings along-side of me in my bitter-fest against the University. Things went nowhere and in the end I could never pursue my license (and still can’t) and so I was left holding only my bitter-bag and my original Master’s degree.
Well, years passed and my bitterness lessened, and I moved on… until this week. You see, as I was sitting at my desk at work, in comes this e-mail that says that it has now been determined that anyone who is in my position and licensed will now be getting a sizeable lump sum bonus and their salary level will go up by two pay grades!!!
As you might expect, I felt those old bitterness juices flowing. I was all ready to invite everyone to my pity-party, talk about injustice, blast my university and let the world know all over that I had been wronged. But then I started thinking about suing, sending a hateful letter to my grad-school, writing another Senator, … Jesus, and his call to be gracious. So what did I do? I determined to live as Christ had called me to and I sent an e-mail to my whole department telling those who were licensed about how glad I was that their hard earned accomplishment was now going to be acknowledged by the state and congratulated them on a job well done. And their response? Grace…as they wrote me back and told me how much they appreciated what I had shared. And I noticed in that moment that something was gone and something was present.
Bitterness – gone. Happiness and peace – present.
In Isaiah 61 we read that God’s Spirit can bring beauty instead of ashes, joy instead of mourning, and praise instead of despair. How true this is when we start asking that well-seasoned question. “What would Jesus do?”, start praying for the strength to do it, and then live in obedience. The fact of the matter is that our lives are going to be filled with things that can make us bitter and drag us down into the pit of discontent. Why not strive to take what makes us bitter and somehow look for a way to glorify Jesus Christ through it?
People in my department know that I’m a Christian. Did they connect my e-mail to them with my faith in Christ? Probably not. But when they consider me overall, will this experience of me leave a pleasant thought in their mind and perhaps the idea that this is how Christians are? Maybe. Either way, I looked to glorify God in my own heart and shared some kindness with my co-workers. I don’t know … somehow in eternity…I believe such things will matter more than if I show up before the throne of God with my license in my hand.
For Him,
Rob
November 7, 2015