'Smoke and Vinegar'

We were very hopeful when we started our new job...The first year in Las Cruces was financially lean. So we were very thankful for the Providence of such generous compensation that included a beautiful new home to live in as well as a salary.

We knew the demands of the position would be difficult. We are on duty from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and must keep the office open six days per week. But, we have a lot of free time during any given day - time to read, study, watch t.v. and play on the internet. We can even take turns napping - which at our age is a big plus! And we can have the grandkids over pretty much whenever we want..an even BIGGER plus!

The first two months on the job were great, the bosses were pleased with sales and all seemed right with the Lopez world.

The bosses - a father-in-law/son-in-law partnership - own another self-storage property in town. There had been management turn-over at that location. The manager who started the same time as I did in April only lasted a couple of months. By mid-July - when our property, Discount, opened for business, yet another management team was just coming on board there.

As with any new job or similar transition, there's a learning curve. But I didn't realize how high the expectations were on our success at Discount. Our sales were great from the outset. Our numbers were phenomonal, in fact...way beyond expectation.

That's why we couldn't understand why the owner's didn't seem more pleased or complimentary. (Not that the good sales really have that much to do with us - the place is brand new and the features sell themselves.) But, we weren't getting any real feedback either way from the owners, and I sensed that they just weren't pleased.

This created tremendous stress - for me particularly. Because I'm the employee of 'record'. Rick, as usual, is EYE CANDY, the pretty face! The senior owner seemed perpetually irritated with me, and when he'd even walk in the door, my blood pressure would shoot up about 20 points. One day at a staff meeting, I was singled out for a critique of my 'phone-sales' skills...I was sick the rest of the day after that. I just couldn't seem to make anyone happy. And the stress got worse.

We came back from our wonderful visit to meet our new granddaughter in Bellingham dreading what might have happened while we were gone. I'm a great believer in the zen of 'Survivor'. It's a fact it doesn't usually go well for the player sent to Exile Island. Being away from the 'community' of the tribe is usually detrimental. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer' is sage advice. So, coming back to the 'tribe', not knowing if our alliance was in tact, caused some anxiety. And the situation seemed to be deteriorating - again. We started to seriously pray about looking for another job. I just feel I'm getting too old for the kind of pressure I was under.

Then, late last week, things took a surprising turn. Without warning, we learned that there was to be a management change - not at Discount, but at the other self-storage location. The scrutiny and seeming-dissatisfaction was a whip-saw effect of the owner's building a case against the other management team. Without going into any detail, it was not a good situation, and a change was made...and the other team was 'out'. The heat we had felt was only reflective and not directed toward us. The owners are quite happy with our performance, but they were under so much pressure from the other situation, they acted suspiciously toward us too. The attitude changed immediately - like night to day.

The day I learned about the management change at the other property, I was finishing a lesson in Proverbs on 'Work', a topic I've found fascinating since beginning a study of the biblical doctrine of 'Calling' last year. Proverbs 10:26, in the ESV, says 'Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.' We affect others by the quality of our work. We vex and trouble our employers when we are not faithful as we perform our given tasks.

Matthew Henry's commentary on this verse is insightful: 'A slothful servant

is to his master as uneasy and troublesome as vinegar to the teeth and smoke to

the eyes; he provokes his passion, as vinegar sets the teeth on edge,

and occasions him grief to see his business

neglected and undone, as smoke sets the eyes a weeping.'

But the verse doesn't let the employer off the hook.

'Those that are guilty of so great an oversight as to entrust such with any affair, and put confidence in them, will certainly have vexation with them.'

I don't know how you can be 'sure' you've got a good person when you hire them. You interview, you check references, you might even do a criminal background check. But, you do have to 'trust' at some point they they will do the job they've been hired to do.

I just know that our owners have been been 'vexed' greatly with personnel issues lately. Providentally, they are Christian men and I'm sure that if nothing else, all these trials and afflictions are serving the Purpose of their sanctification.

I also know that we have been - at present -delivered from a great trial too. I'm so thankful I won't be packing to move again in the near future!