Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Serenity
Serenity. I was trying to place the feeling I’ve been having the last couple weeks. It’s Serenity.
I hired on at IBM in the peak of the dot com bubble bursting when companies were withdrawing written offers to college grads. In my early training I got to experience another new hire in training with me dissapear from class because he was laid off. I’ve been at IBM for 12 years now, and in that time have survived probably 12 rounds of layoffs. I’ve had 9 different managers. I’ve worked with great people and terrible people. Both kinds of people have lost their jobs while I have kept mine. I’ve alternated between loving my job so much I would pay to do it to hating my job so much no amount of money would be enough for me to do it.
In all that time I’ve never heard a false rumor at IBM. The current rumor is that this year’s round of layoffs is going to be larger than last year, and last year was the largest I can remember. Somewhere in somebody's office is a large list of names of people who soon will be getting a small severance package and who will start handing out resumes looking for other employment which they may or may not find. My name may be on that list. My name may not be on that list. I give myself coin flip odds. Flip a coin enough times it is bound to come up tails, and I’ve flipped that coin a lot over the years. For certain there will be co-workers names on that list who I consider friends.
Unlike some previous years I am not worried if my name is on the list. Unlike other previous years I am not hoping my name is on the list either. I do have a family to support, a mortgage to pay, and other demands on the money that employment grants me. I am just at peace with outcomes beyond my control.
I have finally found the answer to the age old prayer:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
I hired on at IBM in the peak of the dot com bubble bursting when companies were withdrawing written offers to college grads. In my early training I got to experience another new hire in training with me dissapear from class because he was laid off. I’ve been at IBM for 12 years now, and in that time have survived probably 12 rounds of layoffs. I’ve had 9 different managers. I’ve worked with great people and terrible people. Both kinds of people have lost their jobs while I have kept mine. I’ve alternated between loving my job so much I would pay to do it to hating my job so much no amount of money would be enough for me to do it.
In all that time I’ve never heard a false rumor at IBM. The current rumor is that this year’s round of layoffs is going to be larger than last year, and last year was the largest I can remember. Somewhere in somebody's office is a large list of names of people who soon will be getting a small severance package and who will start handing out resumes looking for other employment which they may or may not find. My name may be on that list. My name may not be on that list. I give myself coin flip odds. Flip a coin enough times it is bound to come up tails, and I’ve flipped that coin a lot over the years. For certain there will be co-workers names on that list who I consider friends.
Unlike some previous years I am not worried if my name is on the list. Unlike other previous years I am not hoping my name is on the list either. I do have a family to support, a mortgage to pay, and other demands on the money that employment grants me. I am just at peace with outcomes beyond my control.
I have finally found the answer to the age old prayer:
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
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