You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘work’ tag.
About a month ago, I took a road trip (alone) cross country to Missouri…i did video blog things while traveling and when I get em all loaded up, I’ll post em. But that’s not the point. The point is that as i was traveling I knew that I would be starting a new job soon at a factory. I wasn’t looking forward to this and it didn’t help that as I crossed over the boring fields of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri I would frequently catch sight of…corn…but I also saw a lot of factories and warehouses. It struck me that it’s probably the easiest type of job to get and probably a good portion of America’s workforce is locked there (fast food joints are probably a close 2nd).
I began thinking that America is turning into a giant factory. As the waters of industry sweep us away into the whirlpool of technological achievements, the need for factories and warehouses grows. What’s the problem with this? None really. It’s just the way that it goes. But it’s a sad way. It’s sad that i spend my nights now picking up bundles of mail off a conveyer belt during 3rd shift and spend my days sleeping away weariness (which curiously still remains even after I wake). It’s sad that this world ain’t as beautiful anymore. I know work is necessary, I just hope I don’t spend the rest of my life locked in a factory just to survive while I never take the time to enjoy this life that God has given me in the meantime.
To play off a poem concept made famous by Walt Whitman, “I hear America singing…and it sounds out of tune.”
Like this:
Over the past month I’ve been looking for a job. Now all 2 of you may be wondering what happened to Wendy’s? Well, to be honest, i decided it was time to move on. So i spent roughly a month in futility, languishing away with little money and desperately praying for a job. Of all places the Gap Outlet hired me. But this is beside the point.
The point is that as I was seeking out a job and finally came upon one, i was caught in this bitter paradox. I knew I needed/wanted to work because of financial reasons. But at the same time I dreaded (and still dread) going to work. Ecclesiastes 2:17-26 helped me deal with submitting to work at the Gap (especially v. 24). And, from my highly advanced theological training, I know that work is good, that, as that passage says, it’s from God. So if I know that I should enjoy work, why don’t I?
Of course, the technical theological answer is: because of the Fall. After all, Adam’s punishment was that his work/toil would become difficult and painful (Genesis 3:17-19). But what exactly makes the work so bad? I look at times when I enjoy my work..when are those? When I’m serving someone else selflessly and not really getting “paid” to do it. Then I don’t mind my work. To serve someone in such a capacity is much more rewarding than merely working for a paycheck.
So my theological theory (which may be nothing significant at all) is that what makes work so bad is that we are often placed in places we don’t want to be, doing work we don’t want to do, for a reward that we ultimately can’t enjoy. But when we find ourselves in a position to help without much hope of a physical reward, it seems the work becomes a joy. Why? Because the “warm and fuzzy” feeling that comes with helping others is not taxable. No one can steal that feeling and so I say that this is how true work really is supposed to be.
What say you?
I want to first mention to you the radical blog post that I was going to put up. It was in the same vein as many popular blogs today that feature “best of” or “worst of” lists. Except mine was not going to be about anything important…just influential 90′s tv shows. I probably won’t post it since it became too tedious and i just wasn’t “feeling it.”
Now to the main reason of this post. I’ve noticed lately that God employs a sort of “reverse psychology.” How? By providing for me things that are good, but fall short of satisfaction. For instance, jobs. I started praying for a job about 2 years ago and God provided Wendy’s. At this point,I’m such a veteran at Wendy’s that it’s no longer such a chore to go in to work. However, I went home this past weekend and decided to drop by one day. All the horrors and hate of working fast food crept into my proverbial nostrils and reminded me why I have vowed to never root myself there.
It seems like all the jobs I’ve had so far have been enough to provide, to be an answer to prayer, but I know that I’m not supposed to stay there and what prompts this is my loathing of working there. This is God’s reverse psychology. He has not called me to work at a Wendy’s for the rest of my life (or in any form of food service for that matter), and His weekly reminder to me of that is by providing hours at a food service job.
Does it seem like I’m blaming God? I’m not. On the contrary, I’m kinda thankful. Sure I dislike working Wendy’s, catering, sports complexes, and cafeteria, but if it’s the door God has opened, then i’ll be content (through the passing of time,of course). I’m also thankful that He has provided a way to show me what I really need to be doing, what I’m called to do. And that’s definately not flipping burgers.
