Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory at Work
Those of us who have already spent a good chunk of our lives working have likely known good and bad times. A mix of success and failure may not be part of your plan, but, for most of us, that's the way things go. We'll use the phrase "snatching victory from the jaws of defeat" and its counter, "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," to illustrate.
Starting with snatching victory from the jaws of defeat - the happier of the two - I recall the time my company was trying to convert a promotional free trial period of using our service into a permanent arrangement. Things weren't going well. Although I was the new kid on the block, with little experience in marketing, I managed to figure out how to get the job done quickly and efficiently. I'll skip the details, but simply say what looked like a disastrous defeat turned into a great victory for our sales team.
On the other hand, I can also recall being laid off. It came at a particularly bad time. I had endeavored to switch careers into an industry with which I had no background or training. But it seemed to promise the modest security I sought for my family. After a bumpy start, and after quite a bit of struggle, I did rather well on the job. The future looked bright. But then the company was taken over by a private equity firm, I was laid off. The day the hammer fell was my birthday; and we just had our third child. Since my wife stayed home with our kids, I was it when it came to financial support for the family. What once looked bright turned dark and cloudy. What I once saw as a victory - learning the tricks of the trade in a completely new industry - turned quickly to defeat. Worse, as I looked to reinsert myself with another company in that industry, my only choices involved moving my wife and children far from our families - something neither of us wanted. We therefore decided not to go that route. Time to reinvent the wheel again.
Today's Station of the Cross puts it all in perspective. As you may remember, to help sustain our Lenten discipline at work, we continue our journey with Our Lord during Lent, posting the Stations of the Cross, one at a time, using St. Alphonsus Liguori as our guide. (Click HERE for a complete pdf of St. Alphonsus's version of the Stations of the Cross.)
Station 12: Jesus Dies on the Cross
St. Alphonsus writes:
Consider how thy Jesus, after three hours’ Agony on the Cross, consumed at length with anguish, abandons Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head, and dies.
O my dying Jesus, I kiss devoutly the Cross on which Thou didst die for love of me. I have merited by my sins to die a miserable death; but Thy death is my hope. Ah, by the merits of Thy death, give me grace to die, embracing Thy feet, and burning with love for Thee. I yield my soul into Thy hands. I love Thee with my whole heart; I repent of ever having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt.
Relating this to our work day:
St. Alphonsus pulls no punches here: We're all going to die someday. No matter what this day brings along the continuum from failure to success, the thought that some day you will die provides the perspective we need to take it all in stride. It thus behooves us to go about our business today with this in mind. We might even see Our Lord's death as the greatest example of snatching defeat from victory and snatching victory from defeat. His disciples likely saw it as the former. For many of them, their master was the embodiment of their hopes for a Messiah to overcome both their sins and oppression by Roman rule. Less than a week before He had had been carried triumphantly before them into Jerusalem, with the crowd's "Hosannahs!" ringing in their ears. Now this. Of course, He would soon snatch victory from defeat on the third day, when He would rise from the dead.
The next time things don't go your way at work - or even when they do - you might remember this. Rather than concern yourself with either failure or success, be concerned instead with whether your daily labor is for His greater glory.
We conclude today's thoughts with the simple, moving exhortation with which St. Alphonsus Liguori approaches each Station of the Cross:
Starting with snatching victory from the jaws of defeat - the happier of the two - I recall the time my company was trying to convert a promotional free trial period of using our service into a permanent arrangement. Things weren't going well. Although I was the new kid on the block, with little experience in marketing, I managed to figure out how to get the job done quickly and efficiently. I'll skip the details, but simply say what looked like a disastrous defeat turned into a great victory for our sales team.
On the other hand, I can also recall being laid off. It came at a particularly bad time. I had endeavored to switch careers into an industry with which I had no background or training. But it seemed to promise the modest security I sought for my family. After a bumpy start, and after quite a bit of struggle, I did rather well on the job. The future looked bright. But then the company was taken over by a private equity firm, I was laid off. The day the hammer fell was my birthday; and we just had our third child. Since my wife stayed home with our kids, I was it when it came to financial support for the family. What once looked bright turned dark and cloudy. What I once saw as a victory - learning the tricks of the trade in a completely new industry - turned quickly to defeat. Worse, as I looked to reinsert myself with another company in that industry, my only choices involved moving my wife and children far from our families - something neither of us wanted. We therefore decided not to go that route. Time to reinvent the wheel again.
Today's Station of the Cross puts it all in perspective. As you may remember, to help sustain our Lenten discipline at work, we continue our journey with Our Lord during Lent, posting the Stations of the Cross, one at a time, using St. Alphonsus Liguori as our guide. (Click HERE for a complete pdf of St. Alphonsus's version of the Stations of the Cross.)
Station 12: Jesus Dies on the Cross
St. Alphonsus writes:
Consider how thy Jesus, after three hours’ Agony on the Cross, consumed at length with anguish, abandons Himself to the weight of His body, bows His head, and dies.
O my dying Jesus, I kiss devoutly the Cross on which Thou didst die for love of me. I have merited by my sins to die a miserable death; but Thy death is my hope. Ah, by the merits of Thy death, give me grace to die, embracing Thy feet, and burning with love for Thee. I yield my soul into Thy hands. I love Thee with my whole heart; I repent of ever having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt.
Relating this to our work day:
St. Alphonsus pulls no punches here: We're all going to die someday. No matter what this day brings along the continuum from failure to success, the thought that some day you will die provides the perspective we need to take it all in stride. It thus behooves us to go about our business today with this in mind. We might even see Our Lord's death as the greatest example of snatching defeat from victory and snatching victory from defeat. His disciples likely saw it as the former. For many of them, their master was the embodiment of their hopes for a Messiah to overcome both their sins and oppression by Roman rule. Less than a week before He had had been carried triumphantly before them into Jerusalem, with the crowd's "Hosannahs!" ringing in their ears. Now this. Of course, He would soon snatch victory from defeat on the third day, when He would rise from the dead.
The next time things don't go your way at work - or even when they do - you might remember this. Rather than concern yourself with either failure or success, be concerned instead with whether your daily labor is for His greater glory.
We conclude today's thoughts with the simple, moving exhortation with which St. Alphonsus Liguori approaches each Station of the Cross:
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee.
Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou has redeemed the world.
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