St. Paul Really Puts Difficulties at Work in Perspective Here
No matter what you do for a living, even if you've got a "dream" job at the moment, let's face it, work isn't always a bundle of joy. While my own work has been especially satisfying lately, that hasn't always been the case. I've had moments - even extended periods - where work was, well, if not hell, something of a purgatory.
Usually the tough times had something to do with money or plain old pressure.
The money part involved either not making enough or making less than I thought I deserved. Anyone with a family to support has likely felt the weight of a thick wad of bills arriving when money's thin. As for what I thought I deserved, it wasn't an ego thing; just a realization that my peers were being compensated significantly more than I was.
As for pressure, that's come and gone a few times.
For example, there was that lay off when my company was the target of a hostile takeover. To the victor went the spoils. In with the new, out with the old - and that included me. With a stay-at-home wife, three kids, and little in savings, I did my best to remember that I wasn't the only guy unceremoniously cut off from his source of income through no fault of his own. It helped a bit.
Then there was the time when I was really struggling in a sales job. Just couldn't get things to close. And with an internal management shake-up, the pressure was ramped up on me - and everyone else - to produce more. That was a tough one.
So if you're facing difficulties in your work right now, know you're not alone.
But it's not just those of us who've gone through something similar who understand your plight. While any of us could provide counsel and maybe some degree of empathy and comfort, you can also call on your favorite saint or saints to lend a hand.
Try Saint Paul for instance. In the years after Our Lord's Ascension, he worked harder than anyone else to spread the Good News, not only to his own people but, most famously, to the Gentiles. And look at the price he paid:
...in many labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews, five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.
In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thsirt, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness...
"Difficulties" doesn't come close to capturing what the great St. Paul went through in his work!
The next time I hit a speed bump or maybe slam into a wall of woe at work, I hope I remember St. Paul's trials. They're far more than anything I've ever faced, and maybe than any of us has faced.
But more than that, I know he'll lend not only his ear but his heart as well to my prayer for counsel and comfort in the midst of any difficulty.
Despite the trials and suffering he endured, he persisted to the end in his work. And isn't that all any of can hope to do, even in the face of any difficulties we might face?
Usually the tough times had something to do with money or plain old pressure.
The money part involved either not making enough or making less than I thought I deserved. Anyone with a family to support has likely felt the weight of a thick wad of bills arriving when money's thin. As for what I thought I deserved, it wasn't an ego thing; just a realization that my peers were being compensated significantly more than I was.
As for pressure, that's come and gone a few times.
For example, there was that lay off when my company was the target of a hostile takeover. To the victor went the spoils. In with the new, out with the old - and that included me. With a stay-at-home wife, three kids, and little in savings, I did my best to remember that I wasn't the only guy unceremoniously cut off from his source of income through no fault of his own. It helped a bit.
Then there was the time when I was really struggling in a sales job. Just couldn't get things to close. And with an internal management shake-up, the pressure was ramped up on me - and everyone else - to produce more. That was a tough one.
So if you're facing difficulties in your work right now, know you're not alone.
But it's not just those of us who've gone through something similar who understand your plight. While any of us could provide counsel and maybe some degree of empathy and comfort, you can also call on your favorite saint or saints to lend a hand.
Try Saint Paul for instance. In the years after Our Lord's Ascension, he worked harder than anyone else to spread the Good News, not only to his own people but, most famously, to the Gentiles. And look at the price he paid:
...in many labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often. Of the Jews, five times did I receive forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.
In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren. In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thsirt, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness...
"Difficulties" doesn't come close to capturing what the great St. Paul went through in his work!
The next time I hit a speed bump or maybe slam into a wall of woe at work, I hope I remember St. Paul's trials. They're far more than anything I've ever faced, and maybe than any of us has faced.
But more than that, I know he'll lend not only his ear but his heart as well to my prayer for counsel and comfort in the midst of any difficulty.
Despite the trials and suffering he endured, he persisted to the end in his work. And isn't that all any of can hope to do, even in the face of any difficulties we might face?
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