Every year
Lord Sugar chooses a business associate,
someone to whom he will give
£250,000.
This person will be
Lord Sugar’s apprentice.

Competition is fierce.
Men and women from all parts
of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
put their lives on hold
for three months
in order to compete.

Every week
Lord Sugar issues a challenge,
a task to be completed
as part of a group,
along with a few succinct guidelines –
“This task is all about …
innovation and negotiation …
profit and margins …”

The teams disperse,
the competition begins.
Lord Sugar sits back
and observes.

Lord Sugar watches
while candidates get caught up
in the excitement of the task,
getting distracted
and often losing sight
of Lord Sugar’s guidelines.

Lord Sugar evaluates
how each individual candidate performs
within the team
as a sales person or negotiator,
as a leader or a grafter,
as someone who inspires
or as someone who hides away.

At the end of this gruelling process
one lucky candidate
is invited to join Lord Sugar
as his apprentice.

Sometimes I wonder
whether Lord Sugar’s apprentice selection
mirrors our life?

God issues each one of us
with an amazing challenge –
the opportunity to discover Him
and to draw as close to Him
as we possibly can.

God gives us guidance
through His word
in the scriptures,
urging us to love others.

God observes
as we struggle to deal each day
with the nitty-gritty of life,
deeply aware of those times
when we get caught-up
in the material world,
and choose to draw close to money
and the pleasures of life
instead of drawing closer
to Him.

And as we live out our lives
God observes how we interact with others,
looking on with interest to see
whether our actions reflect
love and generosity,
honesty and integrity,
understanding and forgiveness.

At the end of our life
we each stand before God
hoping that we will be lucky enough
to be invited by God
to join Him
in His kingdom.

Okay, it’s not the exact same
as Lord Sugar’s apprentice selection –
but is it really that different?

© Claire Murray, 4th November 2017