When Work Won't Let You Go
These days before Labor Day provide a respite from the usual hot and heavy pace of work for many of us - but not all. I hope you're enjoying a bit of a breather. If not, join the club.
A friend just e-mailed me from the beach. He's been there with his wife and children these two weeks before Labor Day. Sure, he checks into his office from time to time, but it sounds like he's really away from work. It's just what I had thought it would be like for me, come to think of it, without the beach - being away from work that is.
But this year it wasn't to be. It looks like work will doggedly follow me right through these final days before Labor Day. Yes, like a pit bull with its jaws firmly clamped onto my leg, no matter which way I turn, I'm dragging work with me. Woe is me!
But wait! What's with the lamentation? Isn't this God's Holy Will we're talking about. This is what His plan contains, this pit bull of work clamped tightly on me.
Is it a punishment? It could be. After all, I haven't been a paragon of virtue all my life. There's plenty of reparation for sin lying out there for me, I suspect.
Is it a test? Does He want to see if I'll be uncharitable to those who have to suffer my especially tired, grumpy self at the end of this stretch of what were supposed to be light days, sprinkled with time off from the daily grind?
Is my work so darn important that it just won't let me go? I know this project that's taking up far more time than I had imagined is going to help a couple of clients - at least that's the whole point of it - so maybe that's what's going on. Yes, the world needs my work!
Ah, imagination's getting the best of me. Whatever it is, it's really not for me to speculate here. What's for me is the here and now, the Present Moment. Remember, this is, indeed, God's plan. Attend to the work. Do what must be done.
Yes! No lamentations needed. God's Will be done. Whatever plans He has for me, I'm up for it. I embrace it. I want to do His Holy Will. Not that I always feel that way. But what I feel isn't important here. My will is to do His will no matter how I might feel at any particular moment.
So work may not let me go. It may dog me right through this whole week, requiring me to cancel that one day I was going to just take off and get away from it all. So be it. (Heck, for all I know this may be the last day of my life. God may call me Home this very day. Do I want Him to find me grumpy and complaining? Do I want Him to find me wishing I were somewhere else?)
All the study of my Holy Faith kicks in now. All the time spent in prayer catches my sinking spirit, that tendency to lamentation, and bolsters me. My way is set now. The emotions bubbling up from my imaginings settle down. The peace of soul found in attending to the Present Moment begins to take over. The day is upon me and I prepare for the necessary work that must be done. It's not the day I had wished it to be, had you asked me a week ago. But that simply doesn't matter. It's not my wishes that matter here.
What matters is that my will be His Holy Will. He works and I work. Somehow, even though I don't exactly understand it right now, He wants me to work as I will be working this day. No beach for me this year. No respite before Labor Day. No rest for the weary. Just the sufficient grace to resist my tendency to complain, my tendency to feel sorry for myself. Just the strength I need to fulfill the duties of my state of life faithfully. Just what I need.
His Will be done.
A friend just e-mailed me from the beach. He's been there with his wife and children these two weeks before Labor Day. Sure, he checks into his office from time to time, but it sounds like he's really away from work. It's just what I had thought it would be like for me, come to think of it, without the beach - being away from work that is.
But this year it wasn't to be. It looks like work will doggedly follow me right through these final days before Labor Day. Yes, like a pit bull with its jaws firmly clamped onto my leg, no matter which way I turn, I'm dragging work with me. Woe is me!
But wait! What's with the lamentation? Isn't this God's Holy Will we're talking about. This is what His plan contains, this pit bull of work clamped tightly on me.
Is it a punishment? It could be. After all, I haven't been a paragon of virtue all my life. There's plenty of reparation for sin lying out there for me, I suspect.
Is it a test? Does He want to see if I'll be uncharitable to those who have to suffer my especially tired, grumpy self at the end of this stretch of what were supposed to be light days, sprinkled with time off from the daily grind?
Is my work so darn important that it just won't let me go? I know this project that's taking up far more time than I had imagined is going to help a couple of clients - at least that's the whole point of it - so maybe that's what's going on. Yes, the world needs my work!
Ah, imagination's getting the best of me. Whatever it is, it's really not for me to speculate here. What's for me is the here and now, the Present Moment. Remember, this is, indeed, God's plan. Attend to the work. Do what must be done.
Yes! No lamentations needed. God's Will be done. Whatever plans He has for me, I'm up for it. I embrace it. I want to do His Holy Will. Not that I always feel that way. But what I feel isn't important here. My will is to do His will no matter how I might feel at any particular moment.
So work may not let me go. It may dog me right through this whole week, requiring me to cancel that one day I was going to just take off and get away from it all. So be it. (Heck, for all I know this may be the last day of my life. God may call me Home this very day. Do I want Him to find me grumpy and complaining? Do I want Him to find me wishing I were somewhere else?)
All the study of my Holy Faith kicks in now. All the time spent in prayer catches my sinking spirit, that tendency to lamentation, and bolsters me. My way is set now. The emotions bubbling up from my imaginings settle down. The peace of soul found in attending to the Present Moment begins to take over. The day is upon me and I prepare for the necessary work that must be done. It's not the day I had wished it to be, had you asked me a week ago. But that simply doesn't matter. It's not my wishes that matter here.
What matters is that my will be His Holy Will. He works and I work. Somehow, even though I don't exactly understand it right now, He wants me to work as I will be working this day. No beach for me this year. No respite before Labor Day. No rest for the weary. Just the sufficient grace to resist my tendency to complain, my tendency to feel sorry for myself. Just the strength I need to fulfill the duties of my state of life faithfully. Just what I need.
His Will be done.
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