Sharpening Our Spiritual Tool Box To Meet The Coming Storm - 5
Recall that, in his Rule, St. Benedict provides us with "tools" that can help us foster stability in the workplace. Today we look at some of these tools. Let's see how we can apply these in the workplace. We'll see how St. Benedict's remarks can help us produce our best work in an atmosphere of stability, despite any problems and distractions we face, especially those coming at us these days.
We
pick up today where we left off last time with "The Tools of Good
Works." Our next three Tools call on us to approach all our day's
activities in a recollected engaged manner:
- To keep constant guard over the actions of one's life.
- To know for certain that God sees one everywhere.
- When evil thoughts come into one's heart, to dash them at once on the rock of Christ and to manifest them to one's spiritual father.
We don't just wake up, get dressed and groomed and show up for work, slowly waking up and then addressing the tasks the day throws at us. On a practical level, this would be, at best, a kind of passive attention to the job at hand - a kind of "minimalist" approach. And, as you might suspect, you get out what you put in: passable, maybe acceptable enough to get a mediocre job done; but decidedly nothing to write home about. Better to bring not only a fully engaged, energized mental state, but also a body that's well-rested and fit. Your results will reflect the huge advantage of active engagement with your work vs. passively going through the motions.
Our well-rested mind and body helps us to manage our tasks to produce
the best results possible. The work will then speak for itself, work that we can proudly stand behind.
If the difference between passive and active manifests on the practical plane, imagine that same effect on the spiritual. And what better to wake up and energize the soul than these three Tools?
From the moment we begin our work, we're aware that all we say and do may serve as either a good or bad example to others. So we keep constant guard over ourselves.
God "sees" all we do. If only this reality could burn deeply into our minds and souls. Of course, fallen human nature puts up an asbestos buffer to prevent this. So we do sometimes behave in ways that couldn't possibly make sense if we know God's watching. But that's what we do - at least sometimes - isn't it? Let's thank Him that He's as merciful as He is just. And then let's try to comport ourselves as if He's always there with us. Because He is.
Evil thoughts of all kinds flow through us. Maybe not all the time (one hopes!); sometimes more than others. But often enough and in more than sufficient quantity. A simple example at work might be how we think of and judge others, especially those who rub us the wrong way. But isn't such thinking and judging just another source of distraction? Doesn't it take us away from the task at hand and use up our time and energy? So this Tool urges us to "dash" such thoughts immediately against a rock. But not just any rock. The Rock.
Now watch how this all flows:
We begin each day vigilantly guarding all our thoughts, word, and actions in light of God's constant Presence. And in those moments when evil thoughts arise, we're already primed to immediately grab them before they do any harm and dash them against the Rock that is Christ, our Lord and Savior. They won't last more than mere moments if we thus smash them to smithereens right away.
The end result is a much more calm, peaceful, and, yes, stable work day. We're attending to our duties, minimizing if not eliminating all distractions.
When the expected storm hits, we're ready for it. It will exit right out the back door as quickly as it arrived, with the help of our special tools.
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