How Work Helps Us Grow Our Spiritual Life
Our everyday work can help us grow our spiritual life simply be being there every day. It's in the "everyday" where our spiritual life really grows. In a sense, the everyday is "spiritual central" for us ordinary Catholics who go about our business each day, but do want to grow closer to God in some way.
Abbot John Chapman, O.S.B. put it this way:
So what to do? Just keep going.
It's so similar to work - at least it is for me. Work has challenging, sometimes fun, sometimes exciting, sometimes dramatic moments from time to time. But most of the time, it's just another day. It reminds me of the expression: "another day, another dollar." Here you are, nothing too exciting going on, just today's tasks staring you in the face. Get to work, and earn your pay. That's the story of "everyday."
Here's another similarity between work and our spiritual lives, our striving to be closer to God: when you start a new job. You know how those first days are kind of fun, kind of exciting? Maybe this hasn't been your experience, but it has mine. The boss is always a bit more solicitous those first days. After all, he's the one who hired you. He's going to think it was a good decision. And - unless he's a complete dunce - he's going to want to do all he can to give you the best chance to succeed, if for no other reason than that it makes him look like a genius for hiring you. (And, at times, you may even have a boss who really wants his people to succeed not only for his own, but for their sakes.)
But after a while, that "rut of common life" returns. Those first days pass and you're down to the "everyday" again. What do you do, go find another job so you can experience those first days again? Probably not...at least I hope not! You just go about your business, right?
Something similar happens when you first make up your mind that you're going to take your spiritual life more seriously, you're going to make it your business to really try to get closer to God. Maybe you find a spiritual director (a good one of course) and he begins to guide you in your prayer and meditation and other actions you need take each day to turn your life to God, to get closer to Him. When you begin, it's all fresh and feels good. But after a while, you're back to the "rut of common life." And maybe you never ever capture those initial "good feelings" you had when you first began to try to be holy.
Anyway, this isn't a course on advancing in the spiritual life. It's just a little comparison between our everyday work and our everyday spiritual life. In that "everyday" the two meet. And in their meeting, we Catholics can find and should find a way to unite them, day to day, to kind of "work together." If we do, we'll grow closer to God in those very "everyday things" we do at work.
More next time...
Abbot John Chapman, O.S.B. put it this way:
"After some time it always happens that one seems to return to the rut of common life."What he's referring to is the typical course of progress in our efforts to be closer to God. If you've ever tried to advance in the spiritual life - which means nothing more or less that trying to get closer to God - you've probably "hit the wall" at some point: no more "good feelings" from your prayer, your meditation, or all your other efforts. Lacking any consolations from God, you're left with yourself and what's around you - that's the "rut of common life." It can be daunting.
So what to do? Just keep going.
It's so similar to work - at least it is for me. Work has challenging, sometimes fun, sometimes exciting, sometimes dramatic moments from time to time. But most of the time, it's just another day. It reminds me of the expression: "another day, another dollar." Here you are, nothing too exciting going on, just today's tasks staring you in the face. Get to work, and earn your pay. That's the story of "everyday."
Here's another similarity between work and our spiritual lives, our striving to be closer to God: when you start a new job. You know how those first days are kind of fun, kind of exciting? Maybe this hasn't been your experience, but it has mine. The boss is always a bit more solicitous those first days. After all, he's the one who hired you. He's going to think it was a good decision. And - unless he's a complete dunce - he's going to want to do all he can to give you the best chance to succeed, if for no other reason than that it makes him look like a genius for hiring you. (And, at times, you may even have a boss who really wants his people to succeed not only for his own, but for their sakes.)
But after a while, that "rut of common life" returns. Those first days pass and you're down to the "everyday" again. What do you do, go find another job so you can experience those first days again? Probably not...at least I hope not! You just go about your business, right?
Something similar happens when you first make up your mind that you're going to take your spiritual life more seriously, you're going to make it your business to really try to get closer to God. Maybe you find a spiritual director (a good one of course) and he begins to guide you in your prayer and meditation and other actions you need take each day to turn your life to God, to get closer to Him. When you begin, it's all fresh and feels good. But after a while, you're back to the "rut of common life." And maybe you never ever capture those initial "good feelings" you had when you first began to try to be holy.
Anyway, this isn't a course on advancing in the spiritual life. It's just a little comparison between our everyday work and our everyday spiritual life. In that "everyday" the two meet. And in their meeting, we Catholics can find and should find a way to unite them, day to day, to kind of "work together." If we do, we'll grow closer to God in those very "everyday things" we do at work.
More next time...
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