The Bad News and the Good News About Growing Closer to God at Work
So you want to be closer to God. You appreciate how important your spiritual life is; that it is, in fact, critical. You don't want to just bounce from one day to the next. But you keep hitting obstacles - especially at work.
At home, things have improved. You're getting up earlier and reading some Scripture, maybe even some spiritual reading, even some study of Church teachings - all so that you'll be a better Catholic, to help you grow closer to God. You're even spending a few minutes meditating on the most important thing or things you need to work on to grow closer to God, to do His will more consistently. And at the end of your busy day at work, you're able to take a few moments to examine your conscience to see how you did today.
But work's so busy you're hardly even thinking about God; you're just wrapped up in the demands of the day. And it's so intense some days, you're really pretty exhausted by the end of the day - so exhausted that when you get home you can hardly be the cheerful, charitable man you know you should be when you're with your family.
So the good news is you've taken some steps forward, started to make progress; the bad news is that work seems to get in the way of that progress, maybe even pushes you back. Work seems to get in the way of that "real" spiritual progress you want to make. Work almost seems to get between you and God sometimes.
Now for the good news again: your work is bringing you closer to God, even though it doesn't feel that way sometimes. Your work isn't the obstacle it seems to be. In fact, even when you go through a whole day and don't give God a single thought, it's not as bad as it seems.
So take heart! Work is tough for many of us. It's demanding and exhausting much of the time. Sometimes it seems like it never ends - and that's because, in fact, it never does end. There really are always things you have to do. You can't change that.
What you can change is how you react to all that. Yes, I know we're all supposed to "proactive" at work, but you and I know that a lot of our day consists of reacting to things that come our way. And sometimes those things don't just come our way, it seems like they're being thrown at us, almost burying us at times.
So what's the good news? It's that when we're super-busy, even when it feels like we're being buried, it's really God showering priceless gifts on us. He's giving us these gifts as a means to raise us up.
Sure, it's not the sort of gifts that your parents gave you at Christmas or your birthday. These gifts are kind of mysterious, hidden gifts. But rest assured they are gifts - really. And how we react to being buried, to being overwhelmed, especially when that busy day really isn't going well at all, is where we get a chance to grow closer to God.
When we do our best, when we don't bring our problems home and take it out on our wives and kids, when we can muster a calm word or even a smile in the midst of a crisis - all that brings us closer to God.
And if we recognize this and thank Him for giving us these gifts - well, then we really take a giant step in His direction.
Now maybe that's not the most pleasant way to get closer to God. Maybe you think that you'd prefer having time to sit quietly in a nice, quiet dark church and meditate or calmly say your rosary. Maybe you think that's how you make spiritual progress - you know, by doing "spiritual" things. And, sure, you get closer to God that way too.
But don't think of your work - especially when things get hot and heavy - as an obstacle to making spiritual progress. It's really the opposite. If you can remember that all that busyness, all those crises are gifts from God your work will help you grow closer to Him.
At home, things have improved. You're getting up earlier and reading some Scripture, maybe even some spiritual reading, even some study of Church teachings - all so that you'll be a better Catholic, to help you grow closer to God. You're even spending a few minutes meditating on the most important thing or things you need to work on to grow closer to God, to do His will more consistently. And at the end of your busy day at work, you're able to take a few moments to examine your conscience to see how you did today.
But work's so busy you're hardly even thinking about God; you're just wrapped up in the demands of the day. And it's so intense some days, you're really pretty exhausted by the end of the day - so exhausted that when you get home you can hardly be the cheerful, charitable man you know you should be when you're with your family.
So the good news is you've taken some steps forward, started to make progress; the bad news is that work seems to get in the way of that progress, maybe even pushes you back. Work seems to get in the way of that "real" spiritual progress you want to make. Work almost seems to get between you and God sometimes.
Now for the good news again: your work is bringing you closer to God, even though it doesn't feel that way sometimes. Your work isn't the obstacle it seems to be. In fact, even when you go through a whole day and don't give God a single thought, it's not as bad as it seems.
So take heart! Work is tough for many of us. It's demanding and exhausting much of the time. Sometimes it seems like it never ends - and that's because, in fact, it never does end. There really are always things you have to do. You can't change that.
What you can change is how you react to all that. Yes, I know we're all supposed to "proactive" at work, but you and I know that a lot of our day consists of reacting to things that come our way. And sometimes those things don't just come our way, it seems like they're being thrown at us, almost burying us at times.
So what's the good news? It's that when we're super-busy, even when it feels like we're being buried, it's really God showering priceless gifts on us. He's giving us these gifts as a means to raise us up.
Sure, it's not the sort of gifts that your parents gave you at Christmas or your birthday. These gifts are kind of mysterious, hidden gifts. But rest assured they are gifts - really. And how we react to being buried, to being overwhelmed, especially when that busy day really isn't going well at all, is where we get a chance to grow closer to God.
When we do our best, when we don't bring our problems home and take it out on our wives and kids, when we can muster a calm word or even a smile in the midst of a crisis - all that brings us closer to God.
And if we recognize this and thank Him for giving us these gifts - well, then we really take a giant step in His direction.
Now maybe that's not the most pleasant way to get closer to God. Maybe you think that you'd prefer having time to sit quietly in a nice, quiet dark church and meditate or calmly say your rosary. Maybe you think that's how you make spiritual progress - you know, by doing "spiritual" things. And, sure, you get closer to God that way too.
But don't think of your work - especially when things get hot and heavy - as an obstacle to making spiritual progress. It's really the opposite. If you can remember that all that busyness, all those crises are gifts from God your work will help you grow closer to Him.
Comments