Last week I talked about Hope. That is the first thing we offer to the unemployed person looking for a job through Care Placement Service. Next we teach them Structure. This is a lost practice for a lot of people. However, it is needed in order to get to the third element which is gainful employment.
We must remind them how to structure one’s day… to give it form or arrangement. The first lesson is that they must show up and on time! We can help them with their resumes, how to dress; what not to wear, what questions to ask in the interview, how to research a company and even $5 haircuts. This way we are assured that they will give their best to their employer.
This method I found on the study of structure begins with the understanding that aspects of any particular culture that occurs at regular and repeated occasions, such as spiritual practices, tend to take on stable forms or structure. We can see this in most modern services of worship, where the flow of the service is relatively predictable since many aspects of the service are repeated from week to week. And in many cases, for example, we can even predict with a great deal of accuracy the precise words a certain person will use in prayer. This is why many churches develop an Order of Worship to structure these recurring elements.
We should be teaching our children structure at home. They learn it in school so let's carry it on to other parts of their lives so it becomes ingrained. We, as adults must discipline ourselves that when we say yes, we follow through with the best of our ability. By honoring our words brings Integrity to our lives.
Just like structuring anything, applying it to our daily lives allows for productivity, time management, accountability, self-discipline, a sense of security, the ability to trust ourselves, and gives permission to others (i.e. an employer, boss, supervisor, etc.) to trust us as well.
Hebrews 12:11 states "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Structure is everywhere. It is in the words I have written. It is in the building of your homes and offices. It is in our families. It is in our relationship with God.
None of this is negative; it is just the phenomenon of social interaction among people. We tend to respond to cues that are familiar and recognizable, and those cues signal to us far more than simply what the words themselves say. They evoke a whole range of thought or feeling or experience, simply because they are familiar and repeated. We can even make jokes about the familiarity of some of these forms. In our prayer time with Pastor Susan, we know as soon as the Psalm is read, she will pray us out to start our day. Like clockwork, it works. It is the structure of 8:00 am prayer time that effects the whole day in a positive light.
"Let all things be done decently and in order" NKJV 1 Corinthians 14:40
Signing off...Debbie at Care Placement Service in Westminster, Colorado
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