Volume 11, Issue 35: Bring Your A Game

Are you blooming where you have been planted? At your place of work, at your home, among your family and friends, at your church? Are you bringing your A game whenever you show up?

I have come to appreciate my career as my calling, my opportunity to fulfill the purposes of God for my life while earning a living. My work as a homemaker is also a calling, another opportunity to represent and serve God in my sphere of influence.

Joseph's is one of the classic stories of all time in the Bible. Here's a young Hebrew man from an affluent family who had been sold into slavery in a foreign land by his own brothers. He had every reason to pout and just exist. But Joseph showed up at his unpaid slave job at his master's house, and thereafter in prison with his A game.

As amply put by Pierce Brantley in his brilliant book Calling: Awaken to the Purpose of your Work, "Joseph had every right to simply clock in. The situation certainly required nothing of him. No one had asked him to lead in his master's house or in the prison. No one had forced him to use his administrative skills. No one had asked him to bring his A game. But he did. Whenever there was something to be done, he was the one who did it. Everywhere he went, he stayed present to the situation. He added value."

As a slave, and as a wrongfully accused prisoner, all you have to do is show up to work, right? But regardless of his circumstances, Joseph did way more than show up. He brought his A game every time. He didn't have to use his leadership and administrative skills in these forced positions. But he did. He did not hold back his abilities on account of being a slave or having been unfairly treated.

It did not matter where he was or the circumstances that got him there. He went to work as if he were at his dream job. Joseph did not wait until he was second in command (Prime Minister) to Pharaoh to employ his leadership and administrative skills, he put them to work from the moment there was work to be done in his position as a slave, and later as a prisoner.

Are you waiting for your dream job or your dream house to bring your A game? Joseph did not start blooming after he was appointed second in command to Pharaoh, the ruler (king) of Egypt. He was blooming all along - as a slave in his master's house, and as a prisoner. Long before he knew what would become of his dreams.

To nail the point, Pierce added, "Joseph's ticket out of jail was a direct result of his understanding that his mission was always where he was. He would have completely missed the opportunity if his heart hadn't been in a position to stay present in his circumstances."

Your mission is exactly where you are. Stay present. Bloom where you have been planted right now. Work as if your boss is the Lord Jesus himself. Bring your A game every day, irrespective of your circumstances. God will shift gears when you are engaged and He is ready.

For His Glory,

Lillian Chebosi