How God Helps Us Grow Closer To Him At Work
So many spiritual writers make this point, but it bears repeating: everything happens according to God's will. When suffering comes, it is, in some way, ultimately His will. To grow closer to God, we should not only tolerate suffering, but somehow embrace it, because it is His gift to us. He gives us suffering as an opportunity to grow in our love and abandonment to Him.
I'm not going to pretend this comes easily to me (when it comes at all). I'm mostly the tolerating type rather than the embracing type, if I can even get that far. But I do understand the whole point here, and I do strive (though not often enough) to embrace my crosses. Mostly, though, I only think about doing this after the moment has passed, or the suffering has somehow eased. Ah well, maybe someday...
But in the meantime, we Catholic men should take advantage of God's gifts to us at work. By gifts, I mean the bad things that happen all too frequently on the job. And I thought that since we're in Lent we could spend a minute or two thinking about this and how we could incorporate the bad stuff at work into our Lenten penance.
Those bad things at work come in the form of nasty, domineering bosses and unfriendly, unpleasant co-workers. They appear as commutes that take too long, cubical arrangements that cram us together, outdated computers and office equipment that make our work harder than it needs to be. And, especially lately, let's not forget lay-offs and pay cuts - both of which happen to us when we can least "afford" them.
Yup, these are the gifts God gives us at work. And you'll probably get one if you haven't already - maybe even today. Don't let the opportunity pass you by. Catch yourself just when you're about to whine or complain (even if it's only to yourself). Catch yourself as you grit your teeth and put up with the inconvenience, or pain and suffering. Then take a deep breath and embrace this little (or big) gift from God. He's calling you to grown closer to Him.
So many times we try to sort of "create" penances for ourselves during Lent. We give up chocolate or alcohol. We get up a little earlier to pray more in the morning. Or you eat your bread without butter. But here we are, Catholic men at work, with all these opportunities for penance just being handed to us. God, in his love and mercy, gives us these gifts and we mostly miss them. We ignore them.
So don't ignore them today. When that first bad thing comes your way, grab it and offer it up to Him with love. Don't let the chance pass you by.
I'm not going to pretend this comes easily to me (when it comes at all). I'm mostly the tolerating type rather than the embracing type, if I can even get that far. But I do understand the whole point here, and I do strive (though not often enough) to embrace my crosses. Mostly, though, I only think about doing this after the moment has passed, or the suffering has somehow eased. Ah well, maybe someday...
But in the meantime, we Catholic men should take advantage of God's gifts to us at work. By gifts, I mean the bad things that happen all too frequently on the job. And I thought that since we're in Lent we could spend a minute or two thinking about this and how we could incorporate the bad stuff at work into our Lenten penance.
Those bad things at work come in the form of nasty, domineering bosses and unfriendly, unpleasant co-workers. They appear as commutes that take too long, cubical arrangements that cram us together, outdated computers and office equipment that make our work harder than it needs to be. And, especially lately, let's not forget lay-offs and pay cuts - both of which happen to us when we can least "afford" them.
Yup, these are the gifts God gives us at work. And you'll probably get one if you haven't already - maybe even today. Don't let the opportunity pass you by. Catch yourself just when you're about to whine or complain (even if it's only to yourself). Catch yourself as you grit your teeth and put up with the inconvenience, or pain and suffering. Then take a deep breath and embrace this little (or big) gift from God. He's calling you to grown closer to Him.
So many times we try to sort of "create" penances for ourselves during Lent. We give up chocolate or alcohol. We get up a little earlier to pray more in the morning. Or you eat your bread without butter. But here we are, Catholic men at work, with all these opportunities for penance just being handed to us. God, in his love and mercy, gives us these gifts and we mostly miss them. We ignore them.
So don't ignore them today. When that first bad thing comes your way, grab it and offer it up to Him with love. Don't let the chance pass you by.
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