The Christian Working Woman

Mary Lowman
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The Christian Working Woman with Mary Lowman exists to encourage, equip and empower workplace Christians in the marketplace.

  1. 20h ago

    Mistakes to Avoid with Managers – 3

    Have you ever seen someone do great damage to themselves by the way they treated their manager? I’m examining being smart, recognizing managers typically have power to help you or harm you and making sure you avoid some mistakes in dealing with your boss. I’ve covered three mistakes already: Don’t complain about your boss, don’t try to show them up, and be willing to make allowances for generational differences. Here’s the next mistake: Mistake No. 4: Displaying Negative Attitudes in Meetings Now, let me begin by saying negative attitudes are always harmful, but I’ve noticed a person who seems to always have some negative comments in meetings can really do themselves great harm. Obviously, you should feel free to express your opinions and suggestions, but often it’s the way you do it that makes all the difference. Someone told me early in my career if you’re going to voice a problem, always follow it with a solution. You don’t want to develop a reputation of always being unhappy with what’s happening. Even if it just shows on your face, it is not working to your benefit. It is not to your benefit to be put in a “I’m never happy” mold. Proverbs 17:22 gives us some good advice: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22). Keeping a generally cheerful attitude and demeanor will make you more attractive, more appealing, and someone people want to be with. Think about what kind of attitude you generally portray and make sure you come across as a person who sees the glass as half full! Your boss will appreciate that very much, I guarantee. Mistake No. 5: Not Being Able to Handle Feedback The only way any of us grow is to become aware of areas in our life that need improvement. That means we need feedback from our managers at times, even if it is a bit hard to handle. For sure, none of us enjoys being told we need to improve, but if you develop a reputation that you can’t take honest criticism, you will stunt your growth as a person and in your career. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid (Proverbs 12:1). Whoever heeds life-giving correction will be at home among the wise (Proverbs 15:31). Life-giving correction is the perfect terminology for constructive criticism, even if you feel it was not given in a good way. Be willing to hear and then truly consider any criticism that comes your way. Don’t make the mistake of not being able to handle feedback.

    3 min

  2. 1d ago

    Mistakes to Avoid with Managers – 2

    How well do you get along with your boss? I’m sharing some advice to help you get along with whoever is in authority over you. We already noted how important it is not to complain about your boss. Here is mistake number two. Mistake No. 2: Showing Up Your Boss It seems some people think they have to show up the boss in order to make a name for themselves, but intentionally trying to outshine your boss is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. The exception to this would be if you discover your boss is corrupt or illegal in some way, which is rare. Otherwise, it is in your best interest to make your boss look good. Think of ways to make their job easier; when you can, go the extra mile to take some workload off them. They can help you or harm you, so be sure to avoid this mistake. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (1 Peter 5:6). Making your boss look good may indeed require some humility on your part, where you don’t get the credit you think you deserve. But it is one way to humble yourself, and that is a Christian discipline we all need to practice. Mistake No. 3: Not Understanding Generational Differences No doubt you have discovered different generations see things very differently! And frequently your manager’s generation is not the same as yours. Whether older or younger, you can make some serious mistakes in dealing with your manager if you don’t understand and make allowances for these generational differences. For example, punctuality doesn’t seem to be as important to younger generations as it is to us in the older groups. We older types put a high value on being on time for work, for meetings, meeting deadlines, etc. Younger generations seem to be more “laid back,” as we say, and have an attitude that if the job gets done, we shouldn’t worry about such small things as being on time. Believe me, if your boss thinks punctuality is important, you should make it important. I have observed people who truly did great harm to their careers simply by being unwilling to conform to reasonable expectations from their boss or company. Remember what I said yesterday—it’s your job to get along with your boss not your boss’s job to get along with you. That may sound a little strange to you, but for the most part, it is good advice.

    3 min

  3. 2d ago

    Mistakes to Avoid with Managers

    If you are a Christian in the working world, working for someone else, I’m sure you know already your manager or employer can have a lot of influence on your success in your job and in your career. It just makes sense you would want to avoid any mistakes in that relationship, if possible, right? How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver (Proverbs 16:16)! Wisdom is more valuable than money. Getting wisdom on your job is better than getting a raise! And Proverbs 13:10 says wisdom is found in those who take advice. I’m going to share a little wise advice that just might help you avoid some mistakes in dealing with your manager or employer—or the person in authority over you. Mistake No. 1: Complaining about Your Manager. I would say it is inevitable you won’t like everything your manager does. There is bound to be something in their style or skills you don’t agree with, or you feel is ineffective. I can tell you from experience, managers are easy targets for complaining and griping in most organizations. A man I worked with in my first sales job gave me a good piece of advice, which was: It’s your job to get along with your manager, not your manager’s job to get along with you. That probably goes against our culture today, but let me tell you, that attitude will work very well for you. I know not all managers are good at their job. I know not all managers are good communicators. And some managers or employers are pretty close to impossible. I know! But as long as you report to that person, you will do yourself a favor to remember it’s your job to get along with your manager, not your manager’s job to get along with you! One of the favorite past-times of many employees is to bad-mouth the boss and the company. If you’re wise, you will avoid that like the plague. Ecclesiastes 10:20 says: Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say (Ecclesiastes 10:20). What wise Solomon is telling us is talking behind the back of someone in authority, saying things you wouldn’t say to their face, will almost always backfire on you. Somehow those grumblings make their way back to that person, and they find out what you’ve said. Some little bird tells them! And that is a mistake you want to avoid.

    3 min

  4. 4d ago

    Don’t Think for Yourself!

    Don’t think for yourself. I realize that sounds very backwards. How could it be right not to think for yourself? I certainly don’t mean we should allow others to think for us. That’s not what I’m saying. That’s just as dangerous or more so than thinking for ourselves. But when you and I understand the importance our thoughts play in our lives, then we start to understand how critical it is for us to think correctly. Our thought life is the place where everything else begins. Our actions begin with thoughts; our words begin with thoughts; our attitudes are formed by thoughts; our emotions are controlled by our thoughts. As we are reminded in Proverbs 23:7, what we think is what we are. Therefore, we need to be very certain we are thinking right! In order to think correctly, we’ve got to formulate our thoughts based on truth, based on someone we can trust, based on principles which are right and good. Now, I’d like to think I can trust my own self to think correctly, but the more I get to know me and the more I understand my human nature, the more I realize I am not qualified to think for myself. The Bible says in my own natural flesh there dwells nothing good of itself. I know I’m inclined to sin, inclined to be selfish, inclined to take the easy way out, etc. And besides the problem of the sinfulness of my nature, there are the limitations of my understanding and wisdom, which can cause me to think incorrectly if I think for myself. Therefore, if I try to delude myself into believing I’m capable of thinking for myself, I’ll discover it leads me into some real difficulties. Instead of “Think for yourself,” our motto should be “Think biblically!” Then and only then can we be certain our thinking is right, because the Bible is God’s truth, and the only reliable source for us. People who claim to think for themselves rarely do just that. When you see someone rebelling against their parents, or against rules and regulations or authority of some kind, or going off into some deep end, they often use the excuse “I’m thinking for myself and nobody’s going to tell me how to think anymore.” But what’s really happening is they are allowing some other person or group to tell them how to think instead of the ones who have been influencing their thinking up to that point. Rarely are they truly thinking for themselves. Don’t be misled by the attractiveness of this commonly-held belief that we should think for ourselves. It certainly appeals to our proud human nature, but it leads us to place a confidence in our ability to think correctly. The sad news is most of us don’t always think correctly on our own. We are all influenced by the world around us, the attitudes of others, the majority viewpoint, and in addition, our thought life is polluted by our own sinful nature. Add all that up, and you realize not only is it dangerous to think for ourselves, it’s also fairly impossible, for our thinking is inevitably a result of other influences. For Christians, we need to be certain our thinking is shaped by the Word of God and that we are influenced by what God has to say. There was one particular occasion in Peter’s life when he was thinking for himself, and the Lord rather sharply rebuked him for it. The story is found in Matthew 16 where Jesus is explaining it is necessary for him to be killed. Peter didn’t like that idea, so we read that Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:22-23) In Peter’s mind, it would have been a total catastrophe if Jesus were killed. That wasn’t the plan at all, as Peter saw it. So, controlled by his human way of thinking, Peter began to rebuke Jesus; we’d say he gave him a “piece of his mind.” Unfortunately, by doing that, Peter demonstrated that his mind was under the wrong control and influence. In fact, Jesus said Peter had become an instrument of Satan by even suggesting Calvary was not necessary. Satan wants to control all our thinking, because he knows we are controlled by our thought life. Therefore, keeping us from thinking biblically is one of his primary objectives. Who is influencing your thinking today? Modern humanistic philosophies? People who are not godly? Ideas and attitudes that have been passed on to you by friends or family who don’t know the Lord? Even other Christians who are not thinking biblically? Check it out. Whatever controls or influences how you think is, in reality, controlling you to some degree. Romans 12 tells us we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we read we are to bring every thought into captivity, not let our thoughts run wild and free. Learning to think biblically should be the highest priority for every Christian. An obvious question is “What is biblical thinking?” Philippians 4:8 is a good place to start. It clearly defines what we should think about, and here’s the list: Things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Now, I’d like to mention some areas of wrong thinking which don’t meet these criteria. Have you noticed how often we can start imagining what may or may not happen in the future? I can find myself playing out a whole scenario in my mind of the worst-case possibilities, and before I know it, I’m really worried and upset over what might happen to me. That is untruthful thinking; it is imagining the future and allowing those imaginations to cause me to be fearful. Many Christians have started to think very lightly of immorality because immoral lifestyles have become acceptable in our society. Someone was describing a movie to me and commented that a couple in the movie was having an affair, but this person noted it wasn’t the usual sordid kind of affair; it was a tender, more genteel kind. That’s an example of allowing the morals of our culture to invade our mind and cause us to think unbiblically. Any kind of affair should be viewed as impure and wrong by a person who is thinking biblically. Honesty is another area that has been under heavy attack in our society over the last few years. People tend to think of lying as relative; in other words, the situation determines whether it’s right or wrong to lie. And there’s the idea that little lies don’t really do any harm. I notice a great deal of our entertainment treats lying humorously. With all that around us, it’s easy for us to think about lying and honesty in unbiblical ways. How about it? Can you see some areas in your own life where your thinking has been influenced by the world around you, and you’ve lost your biblical mind? Part of the great gift of God to us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior is the presence of God’s Holy Spirit living within us, and therefore, Paul says, we have the mind of Christ. That means we’re able to think like Jesus thinks. In order to think biblically, we must first of all have this mind of Christ within us. You can’t think biblically without the power of the Holy Spirit. Then, we must learn to carefully control what we allow into our minds, for the input determines the output. The computer world has taught us if you put garbage in, you get garbage out! Only as we feed our minds with the right things can we expect to think biblically. We will think about what we read, what we hear, and what we see, so if we are hearing, reading and seeing things that are not in conformity to biblical principles, obviously we’re going to think wrongly. You can fail miserably if you allow all kinds of immorality and impurity to be poured into your mind through television, videos, books, movies, podcasts, etc. It takes careful screening of the input into our minds in order to think biblically. It also takes what I call the Replacement Theory. When we start to think wrongly, and we know we should change, we must be able to replace the wrong thought with the right one. It’s almost impossible to just stop thinking about something, but if you start thinking about something else, then you can be successful at replacing the wrong thought with the right thought. That takes a set of your will to say: “I will not think about this any longer; I will think instead of this.” Many times, I actually talk out loud to myself and say, “Come on, Mary, you know you shouldn’t think about that. Now, stop it and think about this instead.” I can tell you the Replacement Theory works! There’s so much more to say about right thinking. In fact, I’ve written a book entitled Think About What You Think About. You’ll find more information about it on our website, or you can order it from Amazon. I believe it will help you to learn how to think biblically, and if I can help you do that, I’ve done you a very big favor. Remember, thinking for yourself can get you into lots of difficulty. But thinking biblically will enable you to make good choices, right decisions, live a godly life, and know the peace and contentment that comes from right thinking. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6). Biblically thinking guarantees us life and peace. I’d say the return on your investment is very profitable, and I encourage you to join me in a daily commitment to think biblically.

    14 min

  5. 5d ago

    Think! – 5

    No doubt you’ve heard the cliché, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Contrary to that little couplet, words can indeed hurt and they can hurt deeply. And you know, once words are spoken, they can never be unspoken. One of the most Christ-like things we can do is to think before we speak so our words don’t hurt others. I’ve been encouraging all of us to make it a habit to think before we speak, and to help us remember to do that, we’re offering you a bracelet which simply says think. By wearing it, it is my hope we will all get better at thinking about what we’re going to say before we say it. Using the acronym of think, we’ve seen our words should be T – true, H – helpful, I – inspiring, N – necessary, and finally: K stands for kind: We need to think about how we can say what we have to say in a kind way. How many times have words been spoken to you in an unkind manner, and while the message itself was not necessarily a problem, the words or the tone of voice used to send the message were very hurtful. Oh, how important it is for us to think before we speak. Ask yourself, “How would I feel if someone said that to me?” Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up (Proverbs 12:25). When you’re getting ready to speak, ask yourself if the words you will speak will cheer someone up, encourage an anxious heart. In Proverbs 15, we read a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. It is amazing to see the difference it makes when you think before you speak, and you choose words that are gentle and kind. Those words become words of life, and they are pleasing to the Lord Jesus. What do you think? Can we get serious about thinking before we speak? It will make us more like the Lord Jesus, and we’ll be a much more effective witness for him. If our think wristband will help you to think before you speak, then please contact us and we’ll send it to you.

    3 min

  6. 6d ago

    Think! – 4

    Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body (Proverbs 16:24). If we all made it a daily practice to think before we speak, our words would be more gracious, and gracious words have power to bring peace in stressful situations and healing to our bodies, because stress is reduced by gracious words. To help us prevent words coming out before we think about them, we are offering a simple wristband that says think. My hope is by wearing this wristband, you will be reminded to pay attention to what you are getting ready to say and make sure it is appropriate. And we’re using an acronym of the word think to help us evaluate our words. T is for true; speak only what is true. H is for helpful; make sure your words will benefit those you speak to. I means speak inspiring words that will encourage others. And now: N is for necessary: Speak only what is necessary. In other words, don’t talk too much. Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues (Proverbs 10:19). But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:36-37). Talking too much can be a real problem. They tell us that women talk more than men, and if that is true, we women need to be doubly careful about how much we say. We don’t need to fill empty spaces with empty words. Silence can indeed be golden, and for those of us who are talkers, we need to take seriously this exhortation to speak only what is necessary. I think we’re all aware that a person who talks too much is not a person we particularly enjoy being with. Listening to others is the skill we want to develop, so we give others the respect of listening to them instead of inflicting our unnecessary words on anyone who happens to be near. Before you speak, think “Is it necessary?” You’ll probably say fewer words!

    3 min

  7. Jun 3

    Think! – 3

    Have you inspired anyone lately? You may not think about it in those terms, but each day we have opportunities to inspire people. To inspire them to be kind, to inspire them to be encouraged—and on and on. And usually that inspiration comes through the words we speak. We’re talking about how to think before we speak, so when we speak, we say the right things in the right way. And to help you think before you speak, we have some wristbands that say, “Think.” We’ll be glad to send you one of these to help you remember to think before you speak. The Bible has lots to say about guarding our words carefully, and this wristband reminder may help you do that. We’re looking at an acrostic of the word think, which can help us determine whether we should say what we’re just getting ready to say. T means true, make sure it’s true. H means helpful, make sure it will benefit those who listen. And now: I is for inspiring: Will your words inspire the person who hears them in some way, even if it’s very small? If not, maybe you don’t need to say them. Now I need to make it clear I’m talking about inspiring someone for good purposes, because it’s possible to inspire someone to do something wrong. But how wonderful it is when someone speaks inspiring words to us. I remember a day when I particularly needed some encouragement, out of the clear blue a friend simply said something that inspired me. It gave me the encouragement I needed at that moment to keep on keepin’ on, as we say. I often try to remember to say anything nice I think, whether it’s a compliment on someone’s outfit or a word of appreciation for their help. If you’re thinking something nice about someone, then why not express it in words and then you speak words of inspiration. If we think before we speak, we will not only be careful not to say things we should not say, but it will remind us to say those inspiring things that we often think but don’t say. Remember, your words have power; use that power wisely to inspire others. They will come back to you in a wonderful way.

    3 min

  8. Jun 2

    Think! – 2

    The Bible says the tongue has the power of life and death. When we speak before we think, we often use our tongue as a death weapon. I’m encouraging you to think before you speak, and we’ve even made some bracelets for you to wear which say think. It’s a good reminder to carry with you all day, so before you speak you make certain what you say needs to be said and is said in the best possible way. This acrostic for think will help you think before you speak. We already saw T stands for true. Speak only what you know to be true. H stands for helpful: Are the words you’re just getting ready to say going to help anyone? If not, don’t say them. Ephesians 4:29 is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible, in my opinion, and if we practiced it, we would think before we speak. It says, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4:29). Some time ago I began praying this verse into my life, and I encourage you to do the same. Then I noticed when I would start to say something, I would often hear that inaudible voice of God’s Spirit saying, “Is this going to help anyone else; will it benefit those who listen?” That has caused me to stop in the middle of lots of sentences, as I realized I didn’t need to say what I was planning to say because it wasn’t helpful to anyone else. Can you even imagine the wonderful changes that would take place on our jobs, in our churches, and in our homes if we determined not to speak any words that were unwholesome, that did not benefit others? That would eliminate griping and complaining; it would keep us from nagging people; it would cause us to stop passing on gossip. My goodness, it would make a difference in the way we live. Think about what you’re going to say before you say it. It’s so much easier to swallow those unhelpful words than it is to try to recover from them once they are said. If it’s not helpful, just don’t say it.

    3 min
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About

The Christian Working Woman with Mary Lowman exists to encourage, equip and empower workplace Christians in the marketplace.

Information

  • Creator
    Mary Lowman
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    300
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © 2023 The Christian Working Woman
  • Show Website
    The Christian Working Woman

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