As my daughter, Lindsey, begins her final year of college, I’m reminded about the difficulties of entering the workforce for the first time. More accurately, she’ll be entering the workforce looking to launch a career. It brings back some memories. When I graduated college looking for a teaching position, unemployment stood at 15%. What made matters worse is that they were closing schools as the population moved away in search of job opportunities. Fortunately, Lindsey is better able to face these trying times. She’ll graduate with a math and science teaching degree from a highly regarded school.

While finding a job may not be quite so difficult, I know the anxiety she has. She wonders whether she’ll find a job. I wonder whether she’ll find a job with quality leadership and morally responsible people. Those issues affect quality of life. And since teaching requires a time commitment of at least fifty to sixty hours per week, her well-being depends upon the right situation.

It took many jobs and cities for me to land in a place that met my emotional needs, moral leanings, and where I could make a decent wage.  I’ve worked in places where the moral leadership was great but the pay lousy. I’ve worked other places where the moral leadership was absent, but the pay was good. It took awhile for me to realize my need for all three components—emotional, moral, and pay.

There are other ways to deal with the lack of moral leadership, emotional support, and wages. I have a friend who has spent more than thirty years changing the culture of a workplace. He didn’t blame anyone for their shortcomings or complain about a lack of consistent direction. He went to work every day as a faithful servant of Christ. He focused on his students and their welfare. Through his work, his faith transformed a culture.

His path was not my path. I needed a culture where moral integrity was a high priority. My prayer for Lindsey is that she finds a place where she can use her God-given talents to transform her life and the lives of others according to God’s purpose.

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