Colleagues

“Be friendly with everyone. Don't be proud and feel that you are smarter than others. Make friends with ordinary people.”

Romans 12:16

This was the verse from the daily devotional conveniently emailed to my inbox this morning. Wow. In today's work/corporate environment how easy is it to fall into the trap of thinking you are better than your colleagues? Smarter, wiser, more experienced, more friendly...I have been specially in tune with this in the past few weeks. There are lots of new people I am meeting at work and very few that I have determined "friend worthy". How absolutely horrible is that? Yesterday I began to feel convicted of this after being approached by the one person who has been rubbing me the wrong way since we started (this person started about a month after I did). Every time we would pass in the hallways, or be in the kitchen at the same time heating up lunch I would smile and say hello (or something equally as "appropriate") and would get no response. Except for one time when I was heating up my lunch (a frozen dinner that took five minutes to cook according to the box...I like to follow instructions, especially when meat is involved...) and eventually I got a response from my, "Hi, looks like it's lunchtime!" comment...."Wow you're lunch takes a long time to cook, mine only takes sixty seconds." And that was it. The only "conversation we engaged in...until yesterday.


Yesterday was recruited and accepted the task of helping out another team on my floor. The team that my "new friend" heads up no less (God's sense of humor never ceases to amazing me and it always surprises me in a way that makes me stop in my tracks and think, "funny...very funny" inside my head). I ended up spending the better part of my day, and staying way past suppertime to help get the job done. In the end, I think my "new friend" and I were on solid ground...no longer thinking one was better than the other (although I did question the methods behind the task we were completing...but that's more of an efficiency thing than an I'm better than you thing, so I'm going to let that slide for now)...or that one was a complete jerk (okay, so that was probably more on my end). This lesson was only further emphasized this morning when I checked my email.


I know I still have others that deserve this same message/lesson applied to them, but it was nice to see this one come through...a little boost in morale if you will. A happy ending.