Have I ever told you about my first job? Have I let you in on my secret of how I became a good communicator? No? Well, this week’s blog is all about that. I’ll show you how the skills I learnt in my first job helped me to do what I’m doing right now.

And when you cast your mind back to your very first job, you’ll have an ‘aha’ moment, just like me.

My first job was a hairdresser. When you first start out in the hairdressing trade, you don’t cut anybody’s hair. Correction, that’s not entirely true. You do cut hair, but only hair that has been weaved onto a mannequin’s head, that sits on a clamp at your work station in college. Hair which resembles the coarse texture of a horse’s tail.

If you can cut and style that bale of straw into something good and make it not look like a hairstyle from Revenge of Chucky’s Bride horror movie, you’ve made it and your name deserves to be on shampoo bottles.

WHAT MY FIRST JOB TAUGHT ME

So, what skills did my first job teach me which are propelling me forward now?

My number one skill is I’ve learnt to be a good listener.

As you train to become a hairdresser, your first job is to wash people’s hair – and wash it well. It’s amazing how much a person tells you when your lathering up the shampoo in their hair at the backwash. A what? Backwash, (that’s cool hairdresser talk for, sink. Not that horrible experience you get when you let someone take a sip out of your drink bottle.)

Listening is what I needed to become good at. Not only to do my day job now, (working in Aged Care) But, to communicate well with my words. God knew that one day I was going to write books and blog posts, wayyyyyy, waaayyy before I ever did. He knew that if I didn’t learn to listen well, I wouldn’t be able write well.

WHAT JESUS LEARNT ON HIS FIRST JOB

Jesus was a carpenter long before He started His three-year Ministry. I’m sure as He was taught how to make tables and bowls and all sorts of other wooden objects to sell to people from His earthly father, Joseph, He was learning skills from His heavenly Father that were going to propel Him into His future.

A carpenter has to look at a piece of wood and use his creative skills to mould and shape it into something useful. A carpenter sees in the wood the thing he’s going to create, long before it resembles the end product.

Does that sound like a skill that Jesus used to look for His disciples? Seeing something in them long before they saw it in themselves? Shaping and moulding them into their calling? Showing them their worth and value, so they could carry on what Jesus started?

I think so.

What about His communication skills? He needed to understand what the customer’s needs were before He custom-made something for them.

Jesus communicated to every person He met. He taught them that God had something custom-made for them. Whether they needed a miracle, or healing or purpose. He drew out of them what they were looking for.

LEARNING SKILLS THAT WILL PROPEL YOU FORWARD.

So, let me ask you a question…

Looking back on your first job, what skills did you gain that God can use now to help propel you forward into your calling? Have you discovered an ‘aha’ moment?

Leave a comment below. I’d love to know what your first job was and what skill it taught you.

Or, here’s another question…

What is God teaching you in your current job? What skills are you currently learning that God could use to propel you into your future?

I’m sure mine isn’t watching the maintenance man wheel all the bins down to the collection point at work and wonder, “What if you were made to drink bin juice? Could it kill you?”

(Hey, I’m a writer, my creative skills are working on plots and stories 24/7)

You see, the key is to not look at that first job you had and say to yourself, “My first job was mopping floors. How can mopping floors be a skill that propels me into my future?”

Or, “I was a barista at Macca’s, how can God use that skill to propel me forward?”

Go over the requirements that were expected in your first job. You’ve got to use some brain power here, my friend! Think back to what you were good at in that first job?

I don’t remember receiving an award which said, “great hair washing” when I did my first job. But, God used those moments to teach me to be a good listener, so I can help people with their problems.

No matter what your first job was, I’m sure you have learnt skills that God will use to propel you into your calling.

 ‘Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust him along the way you’ll find he pulled it off perfectly!’ Psalm 37:5  (TPT)

And, if your reading this and you’re currently IN your first job. Congrats! You are learning great skills to propel you into a fantastic future God has custom-made, just for you!

Wendy xo