I prepare for a reunion with old friends … have I time to shed five pounds or whiten my teeth? Score the perfect outfit? Maybe, but it’s the appearance of my ‘professional success’ that challenges me most.
My job of many years is short on inspiration, long on filing and endlessly repetitive. I reside at the low end of the power-ladder and have never been promoted. Early on I look for other employment, but each time the opportunity fails to develop. Eventually I come to understand: Life does not want me to leave, but to stay.
Success demands I face shadowy parts of myself, like arrogance, entitlement, resentment and impatience. Over time, I discover by bending to the job’s requirements, my ego is decisively dethroned. Inch by inch I transform … from critic to confidant, complainer to contributor, prima donna to work horse. Boredom yields to a creative life and compassion grows for people at both ends of the power-ladder.
I turn to an old poem about spiritual paradox and my confidence returns. I trust my friends will see what I now know:
Prayer of the Unknown Confederate Soldier
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve; I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater thingis; I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life; I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all people, most richly blessed.