New Beginnings At Work - 2

When we introduced our initial thoughts about new beginnings at work last time, we mentioned the "re-start" of the Rule of St. Benedict on September 1st every year. While the Rule was written for monks, it can help us non-monks in our daily work and our lives in general. Our blog has referenced the Rule many times in the past. Frankly, it's a work of genius. Many others have recognized that genius. If you develop the habit of reading the Rule throughout the year, you'll find many gems to help you: organize and run your business; identify and manage good people to work in the business, including effective ways to reward or admonish your employees; seamlessly integrate your work and spiritual life, with the emphasis properly placed on the latter; and many other valuable, really priceless, insights and suggestions.

There's a whole heck of a lot packed into the Rule. I've been reading it for years. It never stops giving.

Those of us with the wisdom to read this masterwork each day have been absorbing and benefiting from St. Benedict's spiritual and practical genius ever since. Here's what we've experienced so far:

Immediately, St. Benedict calls to us. Having grabbed out attention, he urges us to turn our hearts to God and follow His Commandments.

“Hearken, my son, to the precepts of the master and incline the ear of thy heart…”

Obedience is key here, an obedience rooted in our free will:

"... freely accept and faithfully fulfill the instructions of a loving father, that by the labour of obedience though mayest return to Him from whom thou hast strayed by the sloth of disobedience."

Of course, to freely and fully give our obedience to God requires self-renunciation. Self-renunciation requires constant attention and effort. An honest examination of conscience will uncover selfish thoughts, words, and actions. Daily mortification helps us to quell our self-centeredness as we slowly and steadily quell the passions fueled by our unruly senses and imagination.

The rules proposed by St. Benedict for his monks supply the grist for the mill of obedience, starting with complete deference to the Abbot, the head of the monastery, who represents Christ. But even those of us working outside the enclosure of the monastery need to adhere to similar rules and deference in our daily labors. We've talked about many of these in the past: attending to our task list promptly, getting the most important items done first, in the time we have available; appropriate deference to a boss, cooperative attittude towards co-workers, producing the best work product we can day after day, etc.

If we're always focused on ourselves, we can't possibly be obedient to God's Will and His Commandments. If we struggle against this self-focus, both our work and our spiritual life will benefit. We will have replaced reliance solely on self with trust and reliance on God:

"...whatever good work thou undertakest, ask Him with most instant prayer to perfect it." 

We start the process; God finishes it. We start the process by applying all our skills and talents to every undertaking on the job:

"...we must always so serve Him with the gifts which He has given us."

Note that we apply our skills and talents - which have been given to us by God. 

There's plenty here, starting with an understanding and dedication to obedience, to make a good start to any work day, no matter what's waiting for our attention.

More next time...