Make Your Work Productive
When we work, most of us want to be "productive." You want to accomplish something. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels.
My father was a blue collar worker. He once had a job assembling sophisticated cameras - the kind used in the space program at the time. He worked in a room at a bench with bunch of other guys. Occasionally he would talk to the family about his work. (I got to see his workplace a few times - a big thrill.) Sometimes he'd mention how some guys "goofed off." He couldn't understand it. It drove him crazy.
In fact, he would occasionally "punch out" when things were slow rather than hang around just filling up time. (Back then, a worker had to stick a card in a "punch clock" when he arrived and left the job. That proved the time he put in, and you were paid your hourly rate based on your "punch card.") Dad would rather just come home and be with his wife and family rather than waste time accomplishing nothing. Maybe it was a bit extreme; we could have used the money. But I understood why he did it.
Sometimes I run into these streaks where I feel I'm not being productive enough. I try not to get frustrated. I try especially to remember to pray at those times. Sometimes I succeed in praying, sometimes I get all wrapped up in my frustration at not being productive and wind up not praying and being even less productive. Dumb!
Of course, the whole idea of being productive or "accomplishing something" can be tricky. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to make a sale, just to to make commission? Are you trying to impress your boss by doing a bang-up job on some project you were assigned. Hey is there anything wrong with that?
Be careful here. There might be. You could wind up getting all wrapped up in "what you want." You wind up just being selfish if you're not careful.
When that happens, you get the sale maybe by exaggerating, or somehow misleading or pressuring the customer just so you get the commission. Or you impress your boss at the expense of some co-worker or co-workers; you make them look bad so you'll look good.
That's no way to work for God's greater glory (which is what we should be doing all the time, right?).
And that's why us Catholic men pray all the time that we do God's will. We know well enough just how selfish we can be. We know that if all we care about is "me," we'll just do stuff that's selfish, stuff that ultimately keeps us from getting closer to God over the course of our brief stay here on earth.
And what's that for? Why would we want to wind up years from now, miles away from God, all puffed up and self-satisfied, thinking about all the things we accomplished, all proud of ourselves? Is that what being productive and accomplishing things is supposed to be about?
Of course, the answer to becoming all self-involved isn't to not be productive, or not to accomplish anything. God didn't create work as a means of us developing ourselves, all our skills and talents, without expecting great things from us. That would make no sense. And God always makes sense.
But still, so many times when I pray and tell God I want to do His will, do I really know whether I am in fact doing it - His will, I mean. Do you always know? Isn't it the case that a lot of times you pray that you want to do God's will, but then have no idea whether you're really doing His will in the end. I know that's true for me.
Anyway, I found some ideas I'll share with you in the next post about all this. Meanwhile, I've really got to get back to work. The morning's flying by and I'm due at the office. Got a lot to accomplish today...
My father was a blue collar worker. He once had a job assembling sophisticated cameras - the kind used in the space program at the time. He worked in a room at a bench with bunch of other guys. Occasionally he would talk to the family about his work. (I got to see his workplace a few times - a big thrill.) Sometimes he'd mention how some guys "goofed off." He couldn't understand it. It drove him crazy.
In fact, he would occasionally "punch out" when things were slow rather than hang around just filling up time. (Back then, a worker had to stick a card in a "punch clock" when he arrived and left the job. That proved the time he put in, and you were paid your hourly rate based on your "punch card.") Dad would rather just come home and be with his wife and family rather than waste time accomplishing nothing. Maybe it was a bit extreme; we could have used the money. But I understood why he did it.
Sometimes I run into these streaks where I feel I'm not being productive enough. I try not to get frustrated. I try especially to remember to pray at those times. Sometimes I succeed in praying, sometimes I get all wrapped up in my frustration at not being productive and wind up not praying and being even less productive. Dumb!
Of course, the whole idea of being productive or "accomplishing something" can be tricky. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to make a sale, just to to make commission? Are you trying to impress your boss by doing a bang-up job on some project you were assigned. Hey is there anything wrong with that?
Be careful here. There might be. You could wind up getting all wrapped up in "what you want." You wind up just being selfish if you're not careful.
When that happens, you get the sale maybe by exaggerating, or somehow misleading or pressuring the customer just so you get the commission. Or you impress your boss at the expense of some co-worker or co-workers; you make them look bad so you'll look good.
That's no way to work for God's greater glory (which is what we should be doing all the time, right?).
And that's why us Catholic men pray all the time that we do God's will. We know well enough just how selfish we can be. We know that if all we care about is "me," we'll just do stuff that's selfish, stuff that ultimately keeps us from getting closer to God over the course of our brief stay here on earth.
And what's that for? Why would we want to wind up years from now, miles away from God, all puffed up and self-satisfied, thinking about all the things we accomplished, all proud of ourselves? Is that what being productive and accomplishing things is supposed to be about?
Of course, the answer to becoming all self-involved isn't to not be productive, or not to accomplish anything. God didn't create work as a means of us developing ourselves, all our skills and talents, without expecting great things from us. That would make no sense. And God always makes sense.
But still, so many times when I pray and tell God I want to do His will, do I really know whether I am in fact doing it - His will, I mean. Do you always know? Isn't it the case that a lot of times you pray that you want to do God's will, but then have no idea whether you're really doing His will in the end. I know that's true for me.
Anyway, I found some ideas I'll share with you in the next post about all this. Meanwhile, I've really got to get back to work. The morning's flying by and I'm due at the office. Got a lot to accomplish today...
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