Do You Show Your Work to God?
Last time we talked about how Our Lord experienced many of the burdens and challenges we all do each day at work. We know He knows exactly what we're going through each day. After all, He worked His way through life when He lived here on earth. Today, let's talk about how we can show our work to Him, especially when we work for His greater glory.
We all know the phrase "for the greater glory of God." Some of us consciously try to work for God's greater glory. But how exactly does one do this? Here's a little story to demonstrate one way to make sure our work serves the greater glory of God.
I had a boss once who could be a bit of a "control freak." At certain times, he expected you to show him your work in progress, usually if it involved writing a memo or email to certain recipients. These included both internal recipients as well as certain clients.
At one point, I was asked to create a detailed, lengthy email to send to a big client of our company. This was in the 1990s, and email etiquette was still developing. You may or may not remember this, but prior to emails, when all correspondence was "hard copy," and was either hand-written or more typically in business, produced on a typewriter, one always double-spaced after a sentence. I'll repeat that: After a sentence, you always - always - double-spaced after the period that ends the sentence. So when email started to take over the bulk of both internal and external correspondence, for a period of time, some of us continued to double-space after sentences.
Back to the lengthy email I was asked to create. Part of the reason for my boss's assigning this to me was that I could write a coherent memo, i.e., I had decent business writing skills. So when I finished writing this particular memo, I saved a draft, and he came over to look at it. (Yes, he came to my desk rather than my emailing it to him to check. Saving a draft and sharing it was a bit too advanced for him; he was quite "old school.") I thought the piece was quite good, although I welcomed any corrections or additions he might recommend. But as he began reading, a disturbed look contorted his face. He looked at me - almost horrified - and told me I hadn't double-spaced between sentences.
As I said, there was a time when the practice of double-spacing, as one had done on typewriters, did carry over for a while into writing emails on a computer. But that time was past. Indeed, I had been one to continue the practice longer than most, but even I had made the transition. Naturally, I calmly explained this to my boss. (He had a tendency to get emotional over what seemed like trivial matters, and so I wasn't totally blindsided by his initial reaction.) I told him one doesn't double-space anymore. The new and accepted protocol when writing email was to single-space after each sentence. My boss listened and told me this was absurd. He wanted a double-space after each. And so I went through the email, double-spaced after every sentence, and - with no other corrections suggested by my boss - sent my well-written email to the client.
So how does our little story demonstrate a way to make sure our work serves the greater glory of God? Well, here's an example of something I've done that you could do. If I write something (and I write fairly frequently for my work), I carefully review and edit it and mentally submit it to Him. No, not my boss...Him. Of course, the work needs to be your very best before you submit it - just as you would be certain it was your very best before submitting to your boss for review.
Before you submit your work, you might ask yourself not only whether it's presentable, but maybe even whether He would be proud of your work. Kind of like you might appreciate if your father expressed his pride in your work. Here you could hope your Heavenly Father will be proud of your work.
Okay, it's not a big thing to be sure. But this little practice of showing your work to God might help keep you on your toes and turn you mind and heart to God during the work day. It might help to assure that your work - this specific piece of work that you're doing right now, this very day - is done for the greater glory of God.
We all know the phrase "for the greater glory of God." Some of us consciously try to work for God's greater glory. But how exactly does one do this? Here's a little story to demonstrate one way to make sure our work serves the greater glory of God.
I had a boss once who could be a bit of a "control freak." At certain times, he expected you to show him your work in progress, usually if it involved writing a memo or email to certain recipients. These included both internal recipients as well as certain clients.
At one point, I was asked to create a detailed, lengthy email to send to a big client of our company. This was in the 1990s, and email etiquette was still developing. You may or may not remember this, but prior to emails, when all correspondence was "hard copy," and was either hand-written or more typically in business, produced on a typewriter, one always double-spaced after a sentence. I'll repeat that: After a sentence, you always - always - double-spaced after the period that ends the sentence. So when email started to take over the bulk of both internal and external correspondence, for a period of time, some of us continued to double-space after sentences.
Back to the lengthy email I was asked to create. Part of the reason for my boss's assigning this to me was that I could write a coherent memo, i.e., I had decent business writing skills. So when I finished writing this particular memo, I saved a draft, and he came over to look at it. (Yes, he came to my desk rather than my emailing it to him to check. Saving a draft and sharing it was a bit too advanced for him; he was quite "old school.") I thought the piece was quite good, although I welcomed any corrections or additions he might recommend. But as he began reading, a disturbed look contorted his face. He looked at me - almost horrified - and told me I hadn't double-spaced between sentences.
As I said, there was a time when the practice of double-spacing, as one had done on typewriters, did carry over for a while into writing emails on a computer. But that time was past. Indeed, I had been one to continue the practice longer than most, but even I had made the transition. Naturally, I calmly explained this to my boss. (He had a tendency to get emotional over what seemed like trivial matters, and so I wasn't totally blindsided by his initial reaction.) I told him one doesn't double-space anymore. The new and accepted protocol when writing email was to single-space after each sentence. My boss listened and told me this was absurd. He wanted a double-space after each. And so I went through the email, double-spaced after every sentence, and - with no other corrections suggested by my boss - sent my well-written email to the client.
So how does our little story demonstrate a way to make sure our work serves the greater glory of God? Well, here's an example of something I've done that you could do. If I write something (and I write fairly frequently for my work), I carefully review and edit it and mentally submit it to Him. No, not my boss...Him. Of course, the work needs to be your very best before you submit it - just as you would be certain it was your very best before submitting to your boss for review.
Before you submit your work, you might ask yourself not only whether it's presentable, but maybe even whether He would be proud of your work. Kind of like you might appreciate if your father expressed his pride in your work. Here you could hope your Heavenly Father will be proud of your work.
Okay, it's not a big thing to be sure. But this little practice of showing your work to God might help keep you on your toes and turn you mind and heart to God during the work day. It might help to assure that your work - this specific piece of work that you're doing right now, this very day - is done for the greater glory of God.
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