Someone very dear to me, after working with a temp company for over a year without ANY benefits, finally receive the opportunity to become permanent at the company where she placed. When the offer letter was received, the actual hourly rate was not much more than what was being made currently through the temp agency. Of course this was a little saddening and disappointing but after sitting down and evaluating the whole thing, this is what was found:
1. Automatic paid holidays and additional paid days off, which she didn't get with the temp agency b/c there are NO benefits.
2. Automatically eligible to apply for other positions immediately, which can generate an increase in pay.
3. Automatically eligible for health and dental plans that she did not have through the temp agency.
4. Automatically eligible for additional bonus payouts that she was not previously eligible for, while being a temp employee.
So in the end, the hourly dollar amount was not much but the overall amount was so much greater. As I sat thinking about this, I thought about when we transition over to the Lord's side. We may struggle, face persecution, lose friends, experience losses, and sometimes feel as though we can't make it. Sometimes we even ask ourselves, "Is it all worth it?” or may have even felt that things were better off before getting saved, but we fail to see the overall benefits of our salvation.
I’m a firm believer that when viewing things, it’s all in how you view it. Have you ever heard the example of the half glass of water? Some will view it half full, and others will view it half empty, but again, it’s all in how you look at it. Sometimes we fail to see the overall picture. Sometimes we fail to see the positive in a negative situation. Sometimes we fail to look beyond what’s right before our eyes, and sometimes we fail to see the blessing, in what we consider a mess.
Sometimes the road traveled gets lonely and hard, but I remember these words from my previous Pastor, “living for Christ gets hard sometimes and the pay is not always that great, but the benefits are out of this world!”
Stay Hopeful,
Clarissa
