One Last Slug of Spiritual Advice That May Seem Impossible To Apply In Our Workplace

Today we'll conclude last week's consideration of spiritual advice that may seem impossible to apply in our workplace with this one last slug.

 

Desire Nothing

Count all this world’s goods as dross. They cannot bring happiness and content, and they generally harden the heart. 

The only free man is the one who desires nothing. Let your prayer be “Give me only Thy love and Thy grace. Having these, I have sufficient and nothing more do I ask.” 

Do not desire riches which buy only material things. All the really valuable things of life, such as love, friendship, happiness, contentment, are unpurchasable. A rich man is a man who desires things, who has not poverty of spirit. 

Neither desire that the hearts of others should be wrapped up in you, that esteem and honor should be yours, poor “mouth-breath” which satisfies no one. 

Do not desire health or sickness, a long life or a short one, prosperity or adversity. Leave yourself completely in the hands of God, Who knows what will bring you to Heaven. Desire only to do His holy Will, the end for which He placed you on this earth.

For those of us wedded to spirit of this world, rather the Spirit of God, we face a series of tall orders here. And applying these to our thoughts, words, and deeds in the work place make the order even taller.

When we work we expect to be paid. And when we're paid, what do we do with our money? How often is do our first thoughts turn to some thing or things we would like to possess? And even if we're prudent and apply the first tranche of our pay to some form of savings, be it our company's 401k, or simple money in the bank, what is our next thought? 

That's why our author follows this with "The only free man is the one who desire nothing." The spirit of the world recoils from such a directive, but, really, isn't this the proper countermeasure to it?

And if we're "successful" enough in our work, to the point where we earn money far in excess of a modest sufficiency and security," what do we do with that excess? Is the desire to acquire riches in the form of material things our go-to: bigger house, better car, etc.? If that's the case, if we think of "valuable things" in this way, what happens to love, friendship, happiness, contentment - all of which as unpurchasable. 

As for how others consider or feel about us, we're urged here to eschew the desire that the hearts of others - and this includes our loved ones - be "wrapped up" in us. And, specific to what is so common in the workplace, that means the desire to be esteemed and honored in some way. Perhaps if we think of all this as "poor mouth breath" as Father calls it, it will help us to disentangle ourselves from all this.

Finally, perhaps the toughest advice of all, we're urged not to desire "health or sickness, a long lofe or a short one, prosperity or adversity." These words speak for themselves and they more or less summarize all that we are urged to consider in today's Sunday advice.

We can manage this particularly tall order only with the grace of God, of course. But with His grace, we can - perhaps for the first time - learn to place ourselves entirely in His Hands. It is, after all, the desire to do His Holy Will that should should be our constant concern. Only He knows what will bring us to Heaven, the very reason for which we were created in the first place.

A lot to consider as we head to work today. But isn't it worth our consideration?