Building and Sustaining relationships have become part of our daily life. They not only influence us but make life bearable and thus need to be nurtured.
“Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone “Romans 12:18 (NLT)
The journey to relational living in the workplace starts with the intention of being at peace with everyone despite the circumstances. As hard as this may be, the Lord has promised to be with us all the way when we do make it our goal.
In one of my previous roles, I was requested by my manager to assist his extended team complete a task that had negatively affected the productivity of the entire team. During this process of helping complete the task, I found myself genuinely concerned with one of the team members and we ended up forming a beautiful bond between us. Later, in my career, the department I was in got sold and now I had to start looking for new opportunities.
As I sent out my resume to different places and attended several interviews, I was surprised to receive a call from the same individual I had helped to ask about my job search. He mentioned he’d been picked to give feedback on me in one of my applications. I ended up getting the Job not only because I did meet the expectations required for it but had also built a genuine good working relationship with him that he could vouch for.
Most of the time, the pressure at our workplace may drive us to achieve results at the expense of forming relationships. I have come to learn that when you build genuine relationships with colleagues it becomes easier to achieve results. People connect more when they feel appreciated, cared for, etc. It’s human and normal to be so.
This then brings me to the question how is your relationship with God? The Lord desires that we have a Personal relationship with him as our main goal. It’s this relationship that opens the floodgates of Heaven to all that we need. It’s never about our talents, gifting, ministry, church, etc. Don’t get me wrong, all these are good but should not be replaced with a personal relationship he so desires with us.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to remember that just as you related with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden you desire this for me now. I don’t know how to ask, seek, or even the know-how of what this looks like but grant me strength to desire You in my everything.
Teach me to intentionally build genuine relationships at my workplace for your Glory and a testament to your undying Love. Amen!