For much of my career, my success depended solely on what I knew and what I did. But when I became a manager, my success suddenly depended on others. The change was disquieting, to say the least. My mentor explained, “Your job now isn’t to know everything; it’s to know how to handle things.” He told me there would be times I would try things that wouldn’t work, and I’d have to try something else. “Chris,” he said, “you have to learn to be comfortable with discomfort.” I thought he was just talking about my job, but he was really talking about life.
“Your job isn’t to know everything…” Tucked away in my keepsakes is a pin signifying 19 years of perfect attendance in Sunday School. Church has always been important to my family. My fraternal grandfather was a Pentecostal Holiness preacher, my maternal grandmother taught an adult Sunday School class well into her 80s, and my Mom was our youth leader for a time. I was born on Easter Sunday and have been immersed in church ever since. I’ve read and studied the Bible a lot. But sometimes I lose sight that the Bible and its stories are all about God’s love. Instead, I weaponize my knowledge to judge and condemn others.
“Your job is to know how to handle things.” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Really? Life was easy when everything was black and white, right or wrong. Now Jesus comes along and says, “Love your neighbor.” He doesn’t say “if they look like you, think like you or live like you.” Just, “Love your neighbor.”
“Learn to be comfortable with discomfort.” The beliefs I grew up with will always be part of me. But I’ve seen how focusing on judgment pushes people away from God. A man who’s been a father to me was made to think he could never be holy enough. One friend that I worked with and another I’ve come to love were chased out of their churches for being different. All three grew up loving God until people like me made them feel God could never love them. I would say I’m through with judgment and I’m going to leave that to God, but there will always be a battle within me. I choose to be comfortable with the discomfort, and I choose love.
– Chris Lambert, Meals on Wheels Oklahoma City
