We Are Human Beings
2 weeks ago I let you in on the news that after 11 years I left Apple and took a job at Starbucks. Working at Starbucks put me 75 minutes closer to home, gave me a much more flexible schedule, and gave me a much needed change of scenery.
But.
After 1 1/2 shifts, I quit. The reasons are many, but at the end of the day it just wasn’t the best fit. Everyone was super kind and generous to me, and very welcoming. The manager even said that I would be welcome back again at a later time should I ever want to apply again.
I’m grateful.
I really wanted it to work out and I thought it would be my next “Apple”, the next place where I would spend a bunch of years making drinks for people like I did 14 years ago the first time I worked there.
It just didn’t work out.
And so now I head into the literal unknown, I’m not sure what the next move is … but I sense that whatever it may be, it’s first necessary to take a break.
To breathe.
To decompress.
To spend some time just “being”.
And this is hard, right? Because the temptation is to pivot and find something else to “do”.
To find something else to “do” with my time.
To find something else to “do” that will bring in money.
To find something else to “do” that will give me health benefits.
And.
Those are good things, for sure.
But.
Sometimes it’s easy to become so focused on what we’re going to do with our time that we become human doings instead of human beings and (in the process) can easily lose sight of our greater purpose in the world.
Because the reality is that my purpose isn’t to make money.
Right? I mean, it’s necessary to make money. I get that.
BUT.
My purpose isn’t to be a machine that makes money.
My purpose isn’t to be do a job that gets me health benefits.
My purpose isn’t to chase a number …
A number of lattes made every hour.
A number of iPhones sold every day.
… in an effort to improve the bottom line of my employer.
Those are all things I might choose do with portions of my time so that I can make money for my family and make a small difference in the world, but that’s not (at my core) who I am.
And so although I will inevitably go back to a job where I do those kinds of things to some extent, I want to take this time (as short or long as it may be) to just be.
To rest.
To decompress.
To read.
To work on the podcast.
To deepen my passions.
To further my own journey.
To widen my knowledge.
To laugh with my family.
To chase my daughter around the yard at whatever time of the day I feel like.
To take a nap.
Work will always be there, but these moments in my 39th year, my daughter’s 4th year, my marriage’s 10th year … won’t.
I’m a human being.
Not a human doing.
And so I’m grateful for a few days or weeks or months or whatever to just … be.
✌️
Glenn
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New Blog Post. ✍️
Here’s a teaser …
“I came across something on my Facebook page where a person was arguing that because ...
God is a God who loves everyone.
God is a God who forgives everyone.
God is a God who makes space for everyone in the “Kingdom”.
God is a God who saves a place for everyone at the table.
... That we need to do the same.
"You should never close the door on anyone", they said, "because God never closed the door on you. You have an obligation to love everyone, to accept everyone, to make space for everyone in your life. This is the way of Christ - to include everyone, no matter what."
I used to think this way, too. My thought was that no matter what someone did or what someone said or how someone treated others, they always needed to be given another chance and they ought to never, ever be turned away.
Why?
Because people change; and since God gives me countless chances to get back up again after I slip, I need to do the same for everyone else.
The only problem with this line of thinking, though, is that I'm not God.
Right? I mean, yes, God lets everyone in.
Yes, God loves everyone.
Yes, God forgives everyone.
Yes, God makes space for everyone.
Yes, God saves a place for everyone.
BUT.
I'm not God. Nor do I think it's healthy for me (or you) to have a God-complex whereby we try to make ourselves respond to the world as God responds to the world so that we can say that we've become "more like him".
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