everyday before i go to work there are a few key items i grab on my way out the door to go along with my "official uniform"...only one of these do you actually need an idea about...but ill tell you all 3
my clicky pen, register/office key, and my nametag
and ill let you in on a little secret while im at it:
i dont have favorite customers...i try not to anyway...but it is alot easier to be nicer to someone if they take a little glimpse at my nametag and just subtly or even not so subtly slip the name into conversation (ie. can i have some bbq sauce kate?)
im not sure why exactly dan cathy would tell you our team wears name tags...but i have my own theories
there is something deep in our souls that value knowing who we are...that put worth upon having our names called
names dont have a ton of worth put on them, they get taken for granted...they get discarded because everyone has a name...there is at surface level nothing special about it
but quite the contrary
there is this unquenchable thirst in our beings to be seperated, to be called out, to be unique from every other person
know why?
because God made us that way
if Hed wanted there to be 2 kate mardis' He wouldve made 2 kate mardis'
this desire to be known, to be special, to be worth gets pursued by things like greed for more money, more power, more honor, more prestige...it often leads us to things that are so far from our Creator that they aren't recognizable any more
we feel like in order for our names to be special, for who we are to be unique, for what we have to offer to matter...that we must be better, or attempt to be better than those around us
thats so off though
if i go rip someones nametag off, it hasnt given the information on mine any more value...its just left one of my team members without a part of their uniform...and 99% of the time, it would make me look like a moron
but thats the world we live in...
go rip others tags off...go tear down your team members id's...and you will have more value
FALSE
our names do not have worth because of who we are, what we do, or how many of us exist...
our names have worth because of Who has called them
in other words...nothing we have control over
in the moments when someone chooses to be different and use my name...and i start being nicer to them...it has nothing to do with what i have done or who i have been...
it has everything to do with the choice that the guest made in taking time to look at me and call my name
it has everything to do with his intention and nothing to do with my actions
it has everything to do with His Intention and nothing to do with my actions
but there is more to this story right?
yep
this is the 2nd cfa i have worked at....and every store does the tag a little differently...
the chick fil a logo is always at the top
and right below that is your name...sometimes first, sometimes first and last
and then sometimes below that is something like where you are from, or how long youve worked there, or like the one i have currently, it says what your role is
the joke around our cfa is that you forget who you are if you dont have your nametag
and of course nobody believes that to be the case, nor has anyone (to my knowledge), forgotten their name as a result of a missing nametag
there are moments however, when i am having a particularly awful day, or when it seems like all i am doing is just serving chicken, or when i am at another place after work and have forgotten to take off my nametag and someone mentions how they feel about chick fil a because they see it on my tag....
and i look down, and there is comfort...there is a reminder...there is...a resolidification of who i am
not just who i am, but of whom/what i associate with...you know, who i work for, and what my role is...actually a reminder that i have a role at all is pretty excellent
but depending on where i go with cfa in the future, i may not have a tag that says my role...in fact, it may only say my name...and chick fil a
its easy to get caught up in a rush, or a bad day, or a few bad days, or heck, even a bad year...and forget that to the One to Whom it Matters...we still have a nametag
it may not always tell us what our role is, it may not tell much about us except that we have a name at all and the name of Who we're reppin
the important thing to grasp is that if we have a tag...we have a role...no matter what it looks like to those around us....
maybe you dont feel like your name has been called recently
maybe you feel like your name has been called to often
you might not feel like you have ever heard your name
much less that you have a role to go along with it
in these last few weeks, my name hasn't been called alot
there have been a few, or more, moments that i felt like i didnt have a nametag
im not completely through with this part of the journey...but im still walking
and im not alone
and if there is more than just me here...i must have a name
and if ive got a name
than ive got a nametag
and if ive got a nametag
then i know Who i'm workin for...and by golly
He isn't gonna be forgetting who i am anytime soon
let Him call you today
allow His grace to be the whisper that calms your heart in a place where the storms are raging
allow His pursuit of you to be the reason you can raise your head on a journey that seems to constantly be pulling you down
allow His faithfulness to be what draws your heart closest in a time when hurt has all but pushed you out
allow His words that you ARE adequate compel you to keep swimming in a race where the world has told you you'll lose
allow His freedom to be the voice that wins in a battle against the lies of your past
and more than anything...
allow His love to be the difference you hear in a world that has nothing for you
the battle you are fighting has already been Won
thanks God
