Do you ever get sucked into the preacher shows that they show on local channels in the wee hours of the morning? You know, like the lady with the long curly hair and a chalk board with scholarly things on them, and Casey Treat? Since I'm unemployed now, I find that I sometimes do, when I'm not catching up on my Tyra. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my faith, and I don't plan to switch at some point. But I find the different ways people talk about Jesus, and the Bible, and so on, fascinating. A lot of the basic message is the same. Be nice to each other. Try to be the best person you can. Say your prayers. Have faith in Jesus. That kind of stuff. Tonight Casey caused me to pause and reflect for a moment. He was talking about letting the stuff in your life define you. You know when people come up and ask you how you're doing? And I guess apparently in the grownup world people say "fine." (I personally don't have that filter and will answer you honestly unless you're bugging me in which case I give you monosyllabic answers in the hopes that you will go. Away.) He talked about catching up with someone or something (I was only half listening, there were newsfeeds to be caught up on), and that sometimes you would let things in your life define you. As in:
Person who knows me: Hey, Holliberry, how've you been.
Holliberry: Oh, hanging in there. I got laid off.
Person who knows me: Oh, that's a bummer. Let me tell you about how I have a job and I think you should be a day camp counselor....
That last part is a topic for another time....
Anyhoo, my epiphany was that Casey was totally right about something. People totally do that. And right now I define myself by my employment status. If you've talked to me lately you know that. But then again, other people define me by that right now too. Don't deny it. You asked me how the job search was coming the last time you talked to me, didn't you? Or you asked how that interview went, and had I heard...? (The answer is no, I have not)
So maybe I should think about THAT. I didn't listen to the next part of his sermon. I think his point was, or at least mine would be, that I should be defined by my faith, and what I believe, and that will keep me balanced and help me deal with my problems. Just a guess. It just got me thinking. So, thanks, Casey!
*By the way, you can totally keep asking me about my job. And sending me referrals. And chocolate. And checks/cash/credit cards/funding for trips to Europe. Just don't tell me I should be a camp counselor at $9 an hour, thereby acknowleding that you still don't think my last job was "real," and that I have no professional skills despite the fact that I've been in the professional non-profit world for 9 years, and managed the programs for the entire South end of the county, and mostly worked with adults. Because I will have to de-friend you, as they say in the MyFace world. Also, if you suggest that I work for that other girls organization, I shall have to bludgeon you about the head. If that's possible. Can you bludgeon about the head, or does it only work to do it directly to the head?
It appears that the other post is no longer necessary. Phew. Glad I got that off my chest.
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