The other evening I listened to a woman talk about a stressful situation at work.  That day 210 people at her place of employment were told they no longer had a job and no one knew when the cuts were going to end.  People were asked to come to a meeting, they went to the meeting and many were escorted out and their spaces had been cleaned out for them.

It’s stressful going to work if you don’t know, because of what happened yesterday, if it’s going to happen to you today or when?  It’s difficult, everyone agreed and then people started to place blame – they blamed the President, they blamed the Governor, they blamed the CEO’s and isn’t that just what we all do – blame people and it’s hard – because you don’t hear about CEO’s, the governor, or the President losing their jobs or taking cuts in pay. Eventually the group concluded that it’s a system that is to blame, not one specific person – it’s the whole system.

I studied ethical plant closings once with a classmate.  We studied the methods of downsizing and closings and the things we learned really made me think a lot.  We finally settled on one company as a good example.  They were good because the cuts started at the top – with top people taking cuts in pay and benefits.  Then the next layer was given options of being transferred or taking cuts or a lower position.  The whole process took a couple years and the people at the top had to keep it a secret and imagine how stressful that had to be on them.

Many careers have secrets that can’t be shared and that’s tough.  People walk around knowing things that no one else knows and who they can’t tell.

I had a friend who joined the service and couldn’t tell anyone where they were going.  Tough, tough on her, tough on her family and her friends.  Happy day it was when she came home, I still remember that day and hearing her footsteps coming to my door.

Clergy have a lot of secrets they can’t share, Counselors, Attorneys, Teachers, Correctional Officers, Physicians . .

Sometimes you can tell when people are burdened, sometimes they’ll tell you a general thing – and often people will say to them ‘I’ll pray for you.”  Or , “I’ll keep you in my prayers.”  When is the last time you asked someone carrying a burden, ‘Would you like me/us to pray for you now?’  When I asked the woman who was dealing with the downsizing at work if she would like us to pray for her before she went home there was such a sense of relaxation that came over her face.  She smiled and said, yes, please that would be very nice.  And we gathered around her, laid hands on her and prayed, beginning with ‘Come Holy Spirit, we thank you for the gift of life and your Son and for (her name) and we ask that you would fill her . . . and the prayer continued and she left feeling so much better.  And I think we did too.

I really do believe the Lord  can use what we think is a terrible thing for good.  I believe that the Lord can clear paths in the wilderness and the Lord has good work for people to do and sometimes it takes a transfer or loss of a career or position for us to find that other good work.  I pray for increased faith during these tough times for those 210 people and anyone else who is experiencing a job loss.   I hope people can believe that the Lord has good plans for them in the midst of their current crises.

When should we pray?  Now, on the spot if they will let us,  and of course always . . .