references

One of the privileged tasks which falls to the likes of myself is that of writing references.

We get asked to write a reference on the basis that (a) we know the person, (b) we've developed across the years a measure of careful discernment, and (c) we're trustworthy folk.

There are probably more of these references needing to be written than you'd imagine. They vary, of course. Some are relatively short, with a short set of questions and some four or five boxes to tick. Others are longer by far and take a good deal more time.

The bulk of the morning today was occupied thus. With one reference. It probably took me the best part of four hours to write it. Not so much because it was hugely long, but rather because I needed to get it right.

It is a privilege. But it is a responsibility as well. An individual's future hangs on a reference like this. At least to some extent. An employer's future can hang on the reference I give. At least to some extent.

I want to be fair to both. I want to help both. I want to commend the individual, and be able to say just why it is that the person is well suited for the role the employer wants filled.

I've known the individual well for many years. Which helps, of course. But it also makes it harder.

There's far more to draw on, for one thing, and selecting the salient features the employer will be interested in, and knowing how best and most informatively to illustrate these points - well, that all takes me time.

Ensuring objectivity is harder, too. The employer needs a rounded, balanced picture of the person. They want an honest assessment of the extent to which the person they're considering matches their criteria. In this case, in some small measure anyway, I have to try and second guess just what those criteria are.

Writing a reference is not a mere formality. Nothing like.

It strikes me that this sort of thing is really very much the essence of the work I do. Not some tagged-on side-line which accrues to what I do. But in some ways the heart of my day-by-day work for the Lord.

It's not a reference as such that I'm writing each day. But I am each day commending to a busy world the One who is alone the Saviour whom we need.

The process is the same. The disciplines are the same.

I'm drawing on all that I know of this wonderful Person, Jesus, and, thinking of those that I'm with, I'm seeking to put into words for them all those features of all that he is which relate to where they're each at.

Not your normal reference quite. But not far off. The same sort of thing. Commending the Lord Jesus Christ.

It takes a lot of time. It needs a lot of careful thought. It involves a lot of hard work.

But it is the greatest privilege. And I see it as my prime responsibility before the Lord.