Wednesday; January 24

How do we view our jobs – as the essence of who we are or as a part of what we do?  Traditionally, especially with men, we become so wrapped up in how we make a living that our quality of life is dictated by where we spend forty to fifty hours of our week.  If we are finding contentment and satisfaction in our jobs, the rest of our lives seem to flow pretty smoothly, but when we fall on hard times in our work-world, the rest of our existence suffers.  When things are not going well on the job it will also typically show up in our family, in our spiritual life and even in our health.  All too often, we filter every aspect of life through the emotional assessment of our jobs.
What would happen if we changed our view of employment?  How much would our quality of life improve if – rather than gaining our self-esteem through our jobs – we viewed our jobs as merely a place to demonstrate the talents and gifts.  In essence, sort of like a stage actor, the role we play is independent of where we play it.  For an actor, once the role is perfected, it can be performed in the park, in a local community theater or on Broadway – satisfaction isn’t found in where the role is presented it is in the opportunity to act the role.  When we view life through well-adjusted lenses, the talents we have are to be used in every aspect of life and our jobs merely become a place where we are allowed to use the gifts that God has given us.  Sure, it is nice to be happy and confident at work, but we find our purpose in how we live our lives, not in where we clock-in from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Let’s do we the best we can at the jobs we have, but let’s remember that who we are is not limited to where we work.  We are blessed when we have jobs we enjoy, but even if we don’t we can bless the people around us through what we do.
Think About It!

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