I always thought that if only I would have a meaningful job, which makes a real difference to people's lives, then I would be happy. For years, I have been praying for such a job. And of course, I had my own ideas about what such a job would involve. I hoped that such a job would involve some pastoral work, listening to people and encouraging them with biblical counselling. Teaching the Bible to young people and discipling them. I was hoping to become a youth leader, worship leader, small group leader, school teacher. I thought it would involve writing edifying articles in Christian magazines and writing Bible studies that would appear in devotionals. I applied for jobs with the civil service in both The Netherlands and the UK. That was what I had in mind when I was praying for that meaningful job that would make a real difference to people's lives.
Well.... since 2 weeks, I have a job. And I have to say, it's the most boring and repetitive job I've had since my holiday job in a powder coating facility, where I spent all day hanging up metal frames on a hook. But, boring and repetitive as it is, there's really no denying that it is a meaningful job and it does make a difference to people's lives. I work for a central pharmacy and my main job is to stick prescription labels on medication. That means that it's very important that I stick the correct label on the correct medication. I don't even want to think about what could happen if the wrong label gets stuck on the wrong medicines. People could get seriously ill, or even die as a result. And through the barcodes on the label, it's very easy to find out who's fault it was. So yeah, I finally have the meaningful job I wanted so badly. It's just not quite what I expected though. Who says God doesn't have a sense humour?
