Reflection time. I know I’m about 2 months past due my Faceversary (Facebook’s term for 1 year anniversary – cute, right?) which means I’ve procrastinated long enough and it’s time to write.

It’s been an interesting year to say the least at the big blue and as I reflected on this past year, the lessons that came to mind had surprisingly little to do with my professional growth but everything to do with how I grew in my walk with God.

Of course, if it was up to my selfish self (more on that later), what I experienced this past year was not the way I would have authored it. The story I would have directed would have casted Mr. Me as the main character with everyone else (God, you included) as the supporting cast. Perhaps the tagline to that story could have been – ‘The Story About Albert and All His Career Success.’ Perhaps I would have made a few different career decisions by now if it was ultimately about me.

But thank God, that was and is still not the case. He loves me too much to have a story like that unfold and for me to miss out on some of the deeper and sometimes harder lessons to learn.

So with that out of the way, here are a few things I think God’s been trying to teach me this past year (and for the foreseeable future).

LEARN TO STOP BEING A CONTROL FREAK

Yeah, this is a tough one. Let’s start with the first part of that – my career. I’ve written about this during my time at Otto/Uber but this year really re-highlighted just how much I idolized my career and all that it represented – my status, identity, self-worth, purpose, etc. And because I idolized it, it created an avalanche of decisions thereafter in over worrying, over planning and over controlling my career path.

But as I dug just a bit deeper into the Why’s of Life, I realized it had so much more to do with my career but also how I valued time.

This is worth a post in its own but the thinking is straight forward. If I spend 30% of my entire life working, that is a lot of time I’m putting to it. And if our time on Earth is limited, then I be better dang sure that I’m using my time correctly.

So the question really becomes, Albert, can you trust Me with the time I has given you today (not tomorrow, not when you hit your 1 year anniversary, not 5 years down the road when you’ve being promoted, started a business, or whatever path you’ll be on), can you trust me starting today?

Can you trust the promises I’ve shown you in my Word? That I will never leave you nor forsake you? That I have a perfect plan for you if you just trust me? That when you seek My Kingdom first, all will be given onto you? That I will show you the path to take if you just seek my will with all you do?

Trust me today. Trust me each day. Trust me when the world tells you that you should have already accomplished X by this age. Trust me when you find yourself comparing yourself to others. Trust that I’ve got you in the little and in the much.

And when I trust and relinquish control, I am creating room for His glory to shine and not mine.

Because if that was the goal of life, what would be the point?

CHILL, BREH.  BE PATIENT AND LEARN TO DELAY YOUR SELFISH GRATIFICATION

Yes, God and I are on a breh-to-breh relationship.

Patience and trust go hand-in-hand together which again, also means it’s hard and I hate it.

In the capitalistic, bearish market and tech bubble we are in, there are opportunities abound. Opportunities are great to have but they are also incredibly tempting and distracting as well. We always want what we don’t have don’t we? And we always want it now don’t we? Like, now. I should leave right now.

But in the midst of all the distractions, I praise God for re-centering my focus away from what I can gain but what I can give, especially to those around me and to do the best I can with what I do have today.

I had been focused on what Facebook could do for me and had become blinded by the little opportunities to be grateful and to be present with my coworkers. I’ve had so many opportunities to give back the love that I had so freely received when Jesus died for me but had allowed Mr. Me to take precedent.

Just chill and be present. Wait and watch how I can transform you from the inside out as well as those around you if you allow me to.

LEARN TO FORGIVE.

Yes, someone had set all the  wrong expectations around the role, team and future with you. Yes, perhaps you should have followed your mentors’ advice and have only yourself to blame for how things have panned out since. Yes, there’s been so many changes that’s happened and people you’ve trusted that technically wronged you.

Yes to all those things but by unforgiving, you’re only allowing more bitterness to take root, spread and push out any opportunities to heal and take hold of the purpose for why I have you here at Facebook.

Let go and trust that I can work all things for good.

LEARN TO FIGHT FOR PERSPECTIVE AND BE IN AWE OF MY GRACE .

And lastly, the same lesson that I think God has been trying to hammer in me for the past 2 years now.

Fight for a perspective to be grateful. To make it a habit to see the brighter side of everything. To appreciate everything that I’ve been so absolutely blessed to have – a drop-dead gorgeous wife who is beautiful inside and out, the cutest puppy on planet earth, a job that plays to my strengths, healthy, God-loving parents, feet to walk, hands to write, the list goes indefinitely on.

To learn to praise Him in all the high’s and the low’s for that reason in itself – an opportunity to praise!

To reflect on the journey here to Facebook. That it was a miracle to take someone who barely graduated college, hopeless in their career endeavors to now be working at a company like Facebook.

If this past year was just about me – me being the egotistic, inpatient, money and status driven me, I wonder how much longer it would have taken for me to come around and realize that God was waiting all along to teach me a thing or two.

Well that’s it for now, till next year I guess, wherever next year is.