Ain’t No Vacancies
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My chosen field of for labor is higher education. I like to tell the story that I went away to college and fell in love; but not with another person, but instead the environment. It’s been a relationship that has lasted over 30 years - sometimes wonderful, sometimes not and often complicated, yet here I am. The opportunity to play a role in the development and evolution of another human never gets old. It’s powerful to witness and even more humbling to make a imprint or impact on the fabric of their trajectory. Additionally, amidst my many friends who work in corporate America or own their own small business, higher education always (seemingly) provided stability, consistency and short of budget challenges and personalities and bad decisions, it was considered “safe.”
A few months ago, higher education began to crumble. The dismantling and weaponizing of DEI resulted in reduction in force, elimination of departments and federal cuts, leaving those of us in higher education baffled and vulnerable. It’s like watching a structure burn while holding a valve of water. While witnessing my “love affair” settle into the rubble, I realized just how fragile my “expertise, education and experience” truly is. Yet somehow I have relinquished my “keys to the office” for higher education, but not the ones to my “heavenly office.” How is it that I can accept my inability to control higher education but not the most High God? What say you Stephanie? Allow me to explain.
God has not posted a job description beckoning for my assistance. No matter how “degreed” I am and regardless of the length of my curriculum vita, He’s good on staffing. My skills are unmatched to His. In my best effort, I am unable to meet expectations, let alone exceed them. I can’t “AI” my way into the position or wearing my best fit. Simply put, I am ill-equipped and underprepared. So why pray tell do I think that I can?
No matter how difficult things get in higher education, on your job of a different discipline, in your pursuit of a job period, are we able to align ourselves up with enacting that which is God’s responsibility and prevue. He doesn’t require our help to rightsize the world or our micro crises. Ask me how I know? Because admittedly, I’ve tried. At some point, there must be a reckoning of sorts whereby we realize that we cannot out perform God - but we can (and must) trust Him instead.
What does trust look like? It begins with knowing that trust is our one job. He designed us to not feel pressured to overextend and multi-task. We cannot trust God while trying to orchestrate our interpretation of His will behind the scenes. Proverbs 3:5, which many of us quote reads, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” The “leaning not” is our invitation to assume. We can trust more as we resist the temptation to attempt to make sense of a thing through our limitations. If we are to generate logic, might we turn our attention to the Word of God which gives us the the actions associated with our tasks. For optimal success may we follow Jeremiah 17:7-8: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."
What does “planted trust” look like? How might we embody it? When we plant, we dig deep, we water, we remove conditions that would negatively impact our plant and we expect a harvest. When we operate in planted trust, we go deep in God, we water with prayer and worship; we remove distractions that would allow us to question and doubt and we anticipate an answer from God. As we trust, no matter the conditions, it makes it difficult for us to be uprooted. There is a plethora of tasks that we can do in the earth as we wait on God. If there be any vacancies, I’m certain they reflect a need for more love, compassion, embrace, peace, kindness, grace, warmth, extension, liberation, affirmation and joy. As we fulfill those responsibilities, we liberate God to move. As we fulfill those responsibilities, we demonstrate trust as He exceeds our expectations. God is not hiring for a replacement, but there is always room for us to be more like Him.