Make it Work?

“I’m so busy I don’t know if I found a rope or lost my horse.” ~Tee Shirt slogan

Sister Catherine poked her head into the doorway of my office. “What are you still doing here?” She asked in her clipped Irish brogue. The question was not unfamiliar. It was well past 7:30 PM on a Wednesday evening. As was my custom I had been at my Parish Center office since 5:00 AM. My eyes were dry and gritty from staring at the computer screen. “I have just a few things to finish up,” I replied with a weary smile. “Then I’ll be going.” (It seemed I always had something to “finish up” I thought to myself.)

“Couldn’t it wait till the morning?” she inquired gently. I responded with my well rehearsed litany of excuses: “It needs to be done first thing in the morning when Monsignor comes in.” “I have another project I have to work on tomorrow, besides I’ll feel better if I finish this before I leave and the traffic will be lighter anyway.” Sister listened patiently, an understanding smile on her face. “Well don’t stay too long, you’ve got a long drive home,” and with that she disappeared down the hall.

I returned to the computer screen wondering what it was I had been thinking about before Sister’s well intentioned interruption. Pecking aimlessly at the keys, Sister Catherine’s question kept coming back to me: “What was I doing here?” This could wait till tomorrow couldn’t it. What was I worried about.

A “ding” sound aroused me from my thoughts alerting me of a new email in my electronic “inbox”. I left what I was doing and checked to see what it was. An email ad for a Christian Book site was bolded at the top of the list. I clicked the “delete” icon. Returning to my work I tried to concentrate for a few more minutes then decided to check the weather and the traffic. It was the same as it had been a half hour earlier. I glanced at the time on the lower right side of my screen: 7:59 PM glowed in white letters across a blue field.

Enough! I could finish this in the morning. I shut the computer down. Shrugging on my sports coat I put the remnants of the day’s meal in my gray soft-sided lunch box. Tossing a few items into my briefcase (a briefcase which would sit in the foyer at home unopened until I left again in the morning) I turned off the desk lamp and headed out my office door locking it behind me.

Halfway down the hall I remembered something else I needed to do. Reluctantly returning to the office I unlocked the door and went in. Rather than wait while my computer booted up again I jotted a note on a “post-it” and stuck it on my screen as a reminder to do it in the morning. Out the door I went again and down the hall having locked the door behind me a second time. As I went my unfinished work seemed to trail me down the hall.

Ever since we got ourselves tossed out of the Garden of Eden we have had to work for our daily bread: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” (Genesis 3:19). It is easy to forget work was the penalty for our transgression of eating the forbidden fruit. Yet we often behave as if this punishment were our sole purpose in life.

Work, however, is not the panacea we envision it to be. Most of us work because we have to, not because we want to. While it’s different for everybody fear often plays a major role in our obsession with work. Work gives us a false sense of security. It makes us feel as if we have our destiny within our control. Trust me…we don’t! There are plenty of disasters, economic downturns, layoffs and the like to remind us we don’t.

Discipleship calls us to something more than work. It is not surprising therefore, when we hear Jesus’ call; we drop our nets, put down our water jars by the well and take leave of our counting chambers. This is not to say work is bad or evil, but obsessions are, particularly when our obsessions are attempts to insulate us from irrational fear. A fear easily eliminated by our belief in a supreme being who loves us unconditionally.

As stewards of the 24 hours God gave us today we are called to a state of balance, not a state of compulsion, obsession or suppressed fear. God’s most frequent biblical command is “Be not afraid”. It reminds us we have no reason to hide from our fears and insecurity by submersing ourselves in work. We work to make a living, but work does not our life make.

Dear God: Help me to pray as though everything depended on you, rather than work as though everything depended on me.

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” ~Bertrand Russell, English logician and philosopher (1872-1970)

© 2010 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.

“90 Second Stewardship” All rights are reserved. You are welcome and encouraged to forward this e-mail to family and friends provided the”© 2010 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.” is included along with this message. Organizations, whether for or non profit, are required to receive written approval before reproducing these reflections. If written approval is given the ”© 2010 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.” must be included along with this message.