Professionally Unimpressive

2. I am professionally unimpressive.

When I was a kid, I was smart. Now, I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill, get good grades and understand trains kind of smart. Rather, I was the sort of kid who has an unnatural ability to communicate and think like a much older person. For instance, I was reading and comprehending at a post-high school level when I was in sixth grade. I could out-debate most of my teachers, and could do logic problems long before anyone else had thought them through. I did extremely well on standardized tests, and could defeat any of my friends at Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit.

All this led me to the conclusion that I was special, and that I didn't have to put hard work into things until they came to pass (as opposed to putting lots of work in ahead of time to make myself more professionally attractive). I never bothered to PROVE that I was smart, because I was supremely confident in the fact that it was there. I soon found that this does not mean all I thought it did.

Recently, I have faced the fact that being a philosopher with bad grades is not something a company wants. I am a general failure in the one area that EVERY job requires… being detail-oriented. I did not do well in school. I have a different value system from the average business or political personality. Perhaps most dangerous of all, I am more committed to things that are professionally unimportant than I am to things that are professionally important. I allow my love of books and late night discussions and sports and theology to keep me from a highly disciplined schedule, from extra effort on work projects, or on stuffing and improving my resume.

What I need is to be more disciplined, to be more balanced, and to have more specific direction. For those things, I find that I am completely inept. In years of trying, I can only see a long string of failures. My multiple attempts to structure and organize and improve my lifestyle have flopped. My drives in different career directions (pilot, politician, FEMA agent, lobbyist, etc.) have served to do nothing more than highlight what a thoroughly average worker I am. Nothing about my childhood intelligence or trivial knowledge or debate skill helps.

I am professionally unimpressive, and after applying to nearly 30 different jobs, I know the truth: If I were a manager, I wouldn't hire Ben Bartlett either.

I need God to come through for me. On the one hand, I've completely committed my own development to Him. Everything about my spare time and personal interest has been in His direction. He has called, and I believe He will honor my response.

At the same time, I need him to come through because I need to be rescued. I cannot continue to go through life failing and being saved by people who love me. I need God to change me, to create in me a spirit of discipline in my many areas of weakness. The time to challenge the storm may come, but for now I still need to learn to handle a stiff breeze. I do believe God rescues, but I'm still learning to trust His desire to rescue me, and still learning to trust ONLY His desire to rescue me. That I am professionally unimpressive is a fact. When I am finally changed, and when God's glory is shown in me, it will be apparent; it is only because He rescues that I succeed.