“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:6)
By Jim Ingram
When Paul says that God will supply all our needs in accordance with the riches of his glory (Philippians 4:19), that includes our spiritual needs—providing us with grace to respond to challenging situations, transforming them into opportunities which call forth greater forgiveness and love from us.
At a memory care unit where I worked, I once asked a coworker for help with an elderly patient who required two people to assist her. She responded that she’d help me later if she had the time and then sat down and began scrolling through her phone. I knew I had been rebuffed, but the Lord provided me with the grace to move on gently.
Later that night, she needed help with another resident and came to me rather vulnerably to ask if I would help her. “Yes, I’d be happy to,” I said. We worked pleasantly together and then went on our way.
Weeks later, we were working on the same unit again, when I was asked to assist a resident on another floor. This coworker came up to me to make sure I had everything I needed in order to fulfill the request and then went out of her way to thoughtfully provide extra assistance.
Because the Lord had moved me to be patient and merciful during the difficulties in this work relationship, and to maintain a stance of wanting to serve the other person, our relationship had the opportunity to move forward in love, communion, and graceful forgiveness.
Pray
When coworkers rebuff me on the job, please give me the grace to move on in quiet forgiveness.
Reflect
How do you “handle” difficult coworkers? How can you improve?
Discuss
When have you been in need of grace to deal with a challenging situation at work? Where did you draw your strength from?
Paula Lent is a former member of the WorkLight Editorial Team who is currently studying at Holy Cross College in South Bend, Indiana.