Please understand that I am not regarding my fellow job seekers as opponents.  We are all just meeting the challenges of the national financial state and our individual costs of living.  We are all seeking a satisfactory job that will help us make ends meet.  I wish the search could be easier though.

Once upon a time, job seeking entailed walking in the door of a potential employer, arranging for a meeting with the owner, talking about your experience, and signing the necessary paperwork for hiring.  Now, it’s all online.  Not only does one have to submit his resume to companies dependent on hiring departments, but in many cases, an applicant is screened by software.   Incomprehensible!  It makes no sense to hire a person so impersonally.

I think the biggest aggravations of all are the unsolicited contacts by scammers.  I’m used to pushing the delete button on my email inbox and junkbox when a new scam message comes through.  I was not prepared for all the attempted cons in the job market.

My dad always told me that if it sounded too good to be true, it probably was.  I always do my research, exhausting all possibilites for discovery of scamming when I get a job offer.  Today’s job offer came from a person who could neither spell nor use punctuation correctly.   What might we assume about a company that would employ a hiring manager lacking those basic skills?  Either it won’t last very long or attention to excellence is not a requirement for employment.  In either case, it’s not my idea of an outstanding working environment or long-lasting working relationship.

If you are in the business of conning someone who is without work or you work for someone who perpetuates a scam, BEWARE!  Some of us will report you and we will receive great satisfaction when you are prosecuted.

The tree is up and in place.  I like to fluff out the branches and let it rest a day or so before putting on the ornaments.  It lets me see the “holes” in the tree, which are easier to fix before there’s a lot of stuff on it.

The china cabinets are nearly there.  The Christmas dishes are gorgeous in there.  I need to sort through all the tableclothes and fix a centerpiece too…something kid friendly yet pretty.

My cobalt collection is packed away and it’s space is taken by tons of Santas.  Oh, still much to do but I’m enjoying every second!

I finally graduated with an MA in counseling in 2009.  I got a job that lasted all of 3 months due to a company takeover.  I was the last hired so first fired.  The week before that, my husband found out he had cancer.  We spent the next 16 months getting him through surgery and recovery; no chemo though.  I was thankful that all was looking up.  He was feeling better each day and I was working again.  I had great hopes for my new job.  There are no words to express my disappointment in the expectations of my employers.  Corporate expectations included doing whatever was necessary to make bucks for the company in the name of helping others.  I made it for 7 months.  We were catching up on bills.  We were happy to have regular paychecks again since the 401K rapidly was depleted through survival and loss on investments.  The stress level mounted daily with my job.  I cried myself to sleep at night, when I finally got a chance to sleep.  I usually worked all day and did documentation half the night.  My clients didn’t get the attention I felt they deserved.  By the end of November, I felt the stress was overwhelming and I couldn’t make a difference.  One should always make a difference in every thing they do.  I quit.  It was the only thing to do.  It was the right thing.  I was so tired of being unable to do counseling.  I wanted to finish up my internship and be able to do what I felt called to do.  Was it so wrong.  Should one stay with something that makes them so unhappy and is so unproductive?

So here I am again, looking for a job, at Christmas, yet.  Corporate America has so depersonalized employment. I hate the idea of filling out another job application online. It is impossible to know what a person can do just by what someone sees on a resume.  Employers no longer hire the best person with their new strategies. They allow someone in HR to weed out applications without considering what they may be throwing away. No matter how inefficient the practice seems, If one could still walk in the door of a potential employer like once the application process began, the job market might still be stable. After all, if there was still loyalty to employees by employers, job ethics might still be intact as well.

I would never have gone back to school in 2003 to get that MA if  I had known that it would make no difference in 2o11.  I always felt that education was the key to making things work.  Guess not.   I feel as though I’ve cheated my children and husband out of 8 years while getting an education.  Was it all a waste of time?  I have to wonder when I feel out apps day after day and hear nothing from my efforts.  We always were faithful to pay our bills.  We tried to maintain good credit and be trustworthy citizens.  So may changes over the last few years.  The possibility of losing my husband to cancer changed attitudes and priorities so money isn’t very important to me but it’s hard not to be able to pay my bills on time.

Still, this is the most wonderful Christmas. We have 3 adopted grandchildren; who belong to our good friends.  Our son and daughter in law also have 3 foster daughters, sisters, this year.  It’s wonderful.  I can’t express how wonderful Thanksgiving was with the sound of lots of children in our home.  I look so forward to Christmas when it happens again.

I never thought I would work with children.  My last job, though disappointing, taught me much.  I always knew I loved kiddos but I actually now know I work well with them too.  I can’t wait to get back to counseling and work with kids.  So, I’m down but not defeated.  Surely God has a job for me out there.  Surely He has prepared something.  I can’t wait to see what it is.

Have you ever had one of those times in your life where you walked into a valley and it seems there is no way out? Of course you have. The mountains seem far, far away and mist hangs at the horizon making those peaks so hard to see. The air down here is close and hard to breathe in. The light is faint and darkness hovers all around wanting to envelop me. But Jesus is the light and his spirit breathes on me. I will make it through this valley because He is, He lives, and He is the way.

A song to minister to me and to you today.

The worst of it comes in the last 14 months of job hunting.  It seems that once you slow down, no one wants to hire you.  Not the best booster for self-esteem and confidence, I can tell you.  I still believe that God has the perfect job out there just for me and that soon He will have it waiting for me.  The question is, “Can I have faith and wait?”  I have to admit I have lapses and sleepless nights do follow but scripture my history with the Father ground me after a time and I cease my worry and drift off to some really peaceful rest times.

So many of the baby boomer group now struggle with the issues of no job, no income, no insurance, no security.  God always has a job for us to do.  He is all the insurance we will ever need..with salvation comes fire insurance after all.  He is our security and best of all our peace.  What more could we ask for?  I have to admit I did ask Him to send me a job, preferably a counseling job.  He answers in His time.  I know lots of others who find themselves in our position.  We encourage each other.  We pray for each other.  We learn to love each other and what friendships grow from this time of struggle when we work out our faith together!

I may be struggling with aging and joblessness but I’m rich, so rich in Jesus.

Several years ago the two of us filled out Love Languages and Spiritual Gifts inventories. In both he is assessed as a true servant. The following antecdote is only confirmation of that.

On his walks he makes it his mission to look for all sorts of balls and he’s never disappointed. He even made a scoop to fish them out of the creek. Target had the perfect tool…a strainer made for pasta. He attached the handle of the strainer to an old broom handle with duct tape. He takes this with him on his walks and turned upside down, it makes the perfect walking stick. On his forays, he carries a plastic puppy poop bag in which to put the wet golf balls. On a good day he finds 4-6 and any day he finds more than 6, that’s an accomplishment!

Many days on his walk he finds the basketball that kids playing on the court lost during their game the night before. When the ball rolls down to the creek, it’s too dark to find it and the game is over. Next morning when the kids are at school, Rodney rescues the ball and sets it on a ledge behind the apartment nearest the basketball court for the kids to find. This morning he came in from his walk and went to his closet where he keeps his own basketball and came out with the air pump. The ball needed a bit of air before he perched it on the ledge to be found by it’s owners.

The kids have no idea who rescues and cares for their basketball. This is just one of many small anonymous acts of service that my husband performs everyday. From bringing me that first cup of coffee each morning to listening to the problems of a neighbor, my Rodney is a true servant. It’s one of his characteristics that drew me to him in the first place. I always admired and loved his true spirit of servanthood. I’ve told him before and I truly hope he knows how much I love that about him. He sets a fine example for all. He is a Godly man and I love him so much.