Above The Line Article:
"When to Say 'I Can't'"
By Erik Carlson
This month I had two specific speaking engagements for companies that have experienced huge layoffs, budget cuts, and leadership change, which in turn brings the employees ‘below the line’. They fall into what I call the ‘glass half full’ syndrome; where they are concerned about their own job security, they are overloaded and overworked because now there is less ‘manpower’ to take up the workload. The corporate/culture change is shocking. I am brought in to ‘lift morale’. At first glance, it seems like a task too big for me, but to tell you the truth, opportunities like this get me excited. In fact, I was CREATED for such a time as this; to come in, share hope, laughter and specific principals to help people rise above; and live above the line even in the face of such adversity.
At one company, this was the case; but right before I went up, the lady who hired me told me there was a lady in the audience whose husband had recently passed, and she quite frankly was not recovering. With this in mind, I did my regular ‘show’ that gets them rolling in the aisles; delivered great principals with my positive encouragement, but I decided to spend a little more time on a section of my talk where we are sometimes forced into a ‘comfort zone’ change that we did not ask for.
I was a bit more transparent in sharing about a time when my wife and I were delivered a huge blow that was extremely overwhelming. I’m sure you can think of a time when you have been dealt a hand that you did not ask for, and was so crushing that you had to throw your hands in the air, and like Carrie Underwood, says, cry “Jesus, take the wheel”. I talked about how grieving was a gift, and very important to healing, and has to take its course. Sometimes we need to grieve a lifestyle change that we did not ask for.
I tied this into the employee’s situation, and said “it’s not ours to take on our own shoulders. Release that, because the task as it faces us is impossible. And that’s o.k. But when you look back 5 years from now, and say ‘wow; what a storm’, whether it’s work related or life related, no one will quite know the difficulties you had to go through to make it, but when you go through the storm striving to stay above the line, you will have a victory like no other. When we are weak, HE is strong. God’s power is perfected in our weakness. We can cast our anxieties on the Lord because HE cares for us! I wasn’t at liberty to go on with the countless verses God gave us in the Bible, but the bottom line is the Lord can ultimately take our storms and use them to help others. What a blessing it is to be able to help others through our own scars.
It’s difficult to keep this newsletter short with this topic, but I hope you can get the idea. I did end the talk with an uplifting, hilarious event that exploded everyone to their feet (I love to go out with an uplifting ‘bang’). However, remember that we are not in this alone. We can come together, and when we all serve in our Greater Gift, we can pull each other up above the line and experience the ultimate abundance that was meant for each of us. Thank you all for being encouragement for ME!
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