Learned Something Today

So a few weeks ago, I was getting irritated with how many times I had to repeat my instructions to my almost-9-year-old. Once I had his attention, I tried to calmly explain that he needs to try to listen a little better. He then said, "I know, mom talked to me about this. I tune you guys out and can't hear you, so I need to be careful about that." And so I left it at that. He definitely didn't need the same lecture twice.

Today in Sunday School, I taught a lesson about service. One of the things we talked about in the class was what we can do to be ready to help people and provide service. One of the most important things we can do is to be in tune to promptings from our Heavenly Father, so He can tell us what others need help with.

It dawned on me today during my lesson that we as people do the same thing we've been working on with my son. How many times does the Lord try to get our attention, only to find that we've tuned Him out and we only listen when it's convenient, or good timing. I can definitely do better about about responding when He calls on me for something.

It kind of made me wonder if He goes through the same frustrations with us as we do with our kids. He loves us and wants the best for us, but we so often get in the way of Him giving us blessings or teaching us the lessons that we need to be prepared for life.

Something to think about anyway.

Change is Good...Right?

So for those of you out there who don't know, I am starting a new job on the 18th. Well, kind of. It's not really a new job. I've been doing some consulting in addition to my regular full time work, and the people I've been doing consulting for offered me a great position working full time for them. So I'm starting a new job, but I'm going to be working on some of the same stuff for the same company I've been working with for some time now.

I've felt really good about this change, so I'm not even questioning it, but I thought I'd just list good and bad things about the switch:

The Good:

• I have felt like this is a great time for me to change jobs. I've been working at my current job for almost 5 years now, and I don't want to be too stagnant, so in the back of my mind, I've already been thinking about looking.
• I've been putting in (on average) about 10-15 hours per week with my consulting, as well as putting some extra hours into my regular job to try to get ahead there, so I haven't been home much. This new job (and only one job, no consulting for now) will allow me to spend way more time at home with my family (yay!)
• I drive about 40 miles round trip to work right now. After the job change it'll be about 5. So I'll spend less time on the road (meaning even more time with the fam), plus I'll use way less gas and put way fewer miles on my car.
• I'm kind of kidding about this one, but I get to get a fresh start with my "to do" list. My current to do list at work is HUGE! Granted, most of it isn't just a "to do" list, but a "would like to do" list. There are so many things that are on my list as "If I can get to it" tasks. It'll be nice to be starting with a pretty clean slate (not completely clean, because I've already got a couple of things that I've been working on in my consulting).
• It really is a great offer. In fact, in a lot of ways, this new company has gone out of it's way to make the offer so nice and be so helpful as I transition over. It's hard to ignore the fact that they obviously were willing to go to that much effort to convince me to change jobs.

The Not-So-Good:

• At my current job, I have had a chance to be so involved, not only with my own team, but with all different areas of the company. It's hard to leave a place and people you know so well. Especially the people I work the closest with. We've worked through some crazy stuff, not just at work, but in our personal lives as well. So leaving those people is hard. And meeting and trying to get to know a whole new set of people is difficult as well. I hope everyone's ok with me calling them "hey you", or "dude" for a while.
• Over the last 5 years, I have learned so much about the systems and data that I work with every day, along with much of the company's processes and procedures. Going to a new company where I know very little of this information is a little intimidating. I just have to remember that I started in the same boat 5 years ago and was just fine.
• Change is always hard. I am a man of routine. I have the same morning schedule every morning. I eat the same breakfast. For the most part, I drive the same route to places once I find the one I like. I don't really try new things all that often. So that's a little uncomfortable. But the silver lining to this item is that the change isn't as big as it could be if I was getting hired by a company I'd never consulted for.
• And there are a couple of silly little things. For example, at my current job, we have parking under my building. So I pretty much never have to clean off my car in the winter. I just drive from my garage to the parking garage and back. It's an outdoor lot at my new job. Related to that, it's been nice always having a free parking spot downtown. That goes away too.

All in all, as I mentioned, it feels like the right thing to do, so ultimately it's what I am going to do, regardless of the pro/con list. But it's nice that there are so many benefits with this change. It makes the change itself more manageable.

And I'd like also add that I just feel grateful to even have a job. I've loved working where I've been working. I've learned and grown so much. It has been a fantastic experience, and I think it has helped to shape me and my career. It has been great. I also would like to add that my experience thus far with the new company has been very positive as well. I will get to learn lots of new things there, as well as hone the skills I've already gained. I can't help but think that I'm just really lucky.

I'm so blessed...

and excited...

and a little sad...

but happy.

You know?