Helping, by M

Ever since I first started my new job nearly two months ago, I've been meaning to post my thoughts about the transition and what I'm enjoying and learning in my new position. Well, even though it has taken me about 6 weeks longer than I anticipated... the day has finally come! It's funny because I'm sure my thoughts are much different now than they were 6 weeks ago, but this will have to suffice.

As many of you probably know, I recently left my previous job at a nationwide non-profit to work in full-time ministry for my church. This was a very welcome change for me and, honestly, somewhat of a dream come true. Although my various life plans throughout the years never included ministry, I did fall in love with my church almost immediately upon arriving in Atlanta, and getting paid to facilitate the very environments that made me come to love it is truly the biggest gift. I absolutely believe in what this church is doing for the Gospel of Christ and count it a true privilege to serve the Kingdom in this way.

My job description has three parts to it: department administration, program management, and "director's assistant." Now, I have a lot of experience in the program management piece and my personality leans heavily toward adminstration, so those sounded just great to me. Being someone's assistant? Now that was another story. I had mixed emotions about it... At first I had visions of Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada... alternately, I imagined myself having to babysit a full-grown adult. At times I felt kind of intrigued by this new opportunity and at other times I felt my pride getting in the way of my excitement. After all, didn't I graduate summa cum laude from college? Don't I have two degrees? Did I really work so hard my whole life just to be someone's assistant?

Turns out, the assistant piece of my job is actually the one that I have been enjoying the most (surprise!?). It's so weird to me that this is the case. Part of that is definitely because my boss is young, cool, flexible, and generally awesome, which helps. haha But there is more to it than that... early on, I found myself questioning "why am I actually enjoying this so much?" "what about this speaks to my heart in such a way?" at first I thought it was because it utilizes many of my natural gifts (which is true): organization, administration, responsibility, follow-through, etc. But there was still something even bigger than that. One day, probably when I should have been sleeping, I was pondering this and it just came to me...

I am really enjoying being the "helper."

Now, for those of you who know your scripture, you may immediately connect the dots back to when God created Eve in the Garden... that's where my brain went. I'm sure y'all have heard the story about how God created the world, and He created Adam and everything was good... except, that it was "not good" for Adam to be alone. So God declares "I will make a helper suitable for him" (Genesis 2:18) and that is when (and why) He creates Eve.

To be honest, I was never really down with the idea of being a "helper." It just sounded too... lesser than for my tastes. Yet, many Bible scholars have pointed out that "helper" in the original language is the same word that God often refers to himself by. For example Psalm 54:4 or Hebrews 13:6. I have read before that the word "helper" here includes this idea of rescuer. God has "helped" us acheive salvation; He has rescued us from the consequences of our sin. Likewise, Eve helps... women help... sometimes we women rescue men from themselves. Does that sound about right, lady friends?! haha

Anyway, what I'm finding in my role as a "professional helper" is that my job is very important. Every day my boss thinks I'm a hero because I'm able to accomplish things that he is simply not naturally wired to do well. And every day I am serving my boss and serving my team in a way that is consistent with the way I was designed by my creator. And it just feels... like the way things should be. It has been a really good fit for me.

I definitely have more that I can say about the job, and I probably will in time. However, that's my tidbit for the night. Off to get a good sleep before another day of work tomorrow!