Back in the Saddle - For Better or For Worse
For those of us who managed to take the last week of summer off, it's "back in the saddle" week. Depending on your situation, this could be a blessing or a curse.
It's a blessing if you more of less enjoy what you do for a living. You had some time off; you're somewhat refreshed and re-energized. Those projects that sat for a week await your magic touch. With an invigorated body and mind, you're engaged and off to the races.
It's a curse if you really don't like, maybe even hate, your job. I feel for you, having been there. But look at it this way: You can make a special offering today of that loathsome job. Our Lord will greatly appreciate your effort to do your best with the talents and skills he gave you, your behaving like a gentleman towards your co-worker, even that boss you can't stand. It's an opportunity you can make the most of, right?
Many, if not most, fall somewhere in the middle here. The job's not so bad, but, really, another week of R&R would have been nice. So...yeah, we can offer up our work, be charitable to any and all comers, maybe increase our daily awareness of the presence of God in all we do.
There's always some time, some thing, we Catholics can use to turn into a prayer, a way to grow closer to Our Lord with the help of Our Lady, our Guardian Angel and the Communion of Saints.
A word of warning here: Just because we seize the day with the right attitude, no matter our feelings about our work, doesn't mean things will go swimmingly well. Even with the best job in the world, you can hit a speed bump or roadblock, even be battered by outright disaster. What to do if that's our fate today? Here's something from Father Gerald Vann, O.P. you might find helpful:
"Sometimes it is when we have started, and slowly built up, some project that we feel convinced is good, is for God, and then it is wrecked by circumstances outside our control, we want to grumble, we want to rebel; but no, we should remind ourselves that we never really know, in our tiny glimpse of God’s plan, what in the long run is really failure and what is success. Sometimes it is over ourselves, our own state of soul, that we become agitated in the bad sense: we cannot seem to cope with this or that temptation, we cannot seem to improve; but once again we must try to live in the present: doing our very best here and now, and neither brooding over our past failures nor letting ourselves sink into a sort of practical despair about the future. All things are in the hands of God."
Good job, bad job, or something in between, we do our best and leave the rest to God. It's simple, really. So why is it so hard to do?
In my own case, I know it's got something to do with being self-centered. I'll take responsibility for my actions, I'll accept the blame when things don't go well; but I want the credit when they do. Or, even if I grow up a bit spiritually and foresake the desire to get the credit, I'm focused on how I accomplished my goals and objectives.
There's a lot of "I's" in all that. Right there's the stumbling block to my really, truly, deeply living in the knowledge that all things are in God's hands.
What about you? Got the same ego issues? Whatever might be holding you back from being able to simply do your best and leaving the results of your efforts in God's hands, why not get on this today and keep it up the rest of the week?
It's a worthy intention for "back in the saddle week." Don't you think?
It's a blessing if you more of less enjoy what you do for a living. You had some time off; you're somewhat refreshed and re-energized. Those projects that sat for a week await your magic touch. With an invigorated body and mind, you're engaged and off to the races.
It's a curse if you really don't like, maybe even hate, your job. I feel for you, having been there. But look at it this way: You can make a special offering today of that loathsome job. Our Lord will greatly appreciate your effort to do your best with the talents and skills he gave you, your behaving like a gentleman towards your co-worker, even that boss you can't stand. It's an opportunity you can make the most of, right?
Many, if not most, fall somewhere in the middle here. The job's not so bad, but, really, another week of R&R would have been nice. So...yeah, we can offer up our work, be charitable to any and all comers, maybe increase our daily awareness of the presence of God in all we do.
There's always some time, some thing, we Catholics can use to turn into a prayer, a way to grow closer to Our Lord with the help of Our Lady, our Guardian Angel and the Communion of Saints.
A word of warning here: Just because we seize the day with the right attitude, no matter our feelings about our work, doesn't mean things will go swimmingly well. Even with the best job in the world, you can hit a speed bump or roadblock, even be battered by outright disaster. What to do if that's our fate today? Here's something from Father Gerald Vann, O.P. you might find helpful:
"Sometimes it is when we have started, and slowly built up, some project that we feel convinced is good, is for God, and then it is wrecked by circumstances outside our control, we want to grumble, we want to rebel; but no, we should remind ourselves that we never really know, in our tiny glimpse of God’s plan, what in the long run is really failure and what is success. Sometimes it is over ourselves, our own state of soul, that we become agitated in the bad sense: we cannot seem to cope with this or that temptation, we cannot seem to improve; but once again we must try to live in the present: doing our very best here and now, and neither brooding over our past failures nor letting ourselves sink into a sort of practical despair about the future. All things are in the hands of God."
Good job, bad job, or something in between, we do our best and leave the rest to God. It's simple, really. So why is it so hard to do?
In my own case, I know it's got something to do with being self-centered. I'll take responsibility for my actions, I'll accept the blame when things don't go well; but I want the credit when they do. Or, even if I grow up a bit spiritually and foresake the desire to get the credit, I'm focused on how I accomplished my goals and objectives.
There's a lot of "I's" in all that. Right there's the stumbling block to my really, truly, deeply living in the knowledge that all things are in God's hands.
What about you? Got the same ego issues? Whatever might be holding you back from being able to simply do your best and leaving the results of your efforts in God's hands, why not get on this today and keep it up the rest of the week?
It's a worthy intention for "back in the saddle week." Don't you think?
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