CENTRING WORK ON THE ETERNAL WORD | KAIROS GLOBAL | JULY 2022

Author: Serena DSouza

Intro: Can we experience peace and joy in our work? Serena DSouza tells us how.

For most of us today, work has taken centre stage in life. Whether at home, or at a dinner with friends and family, work seems to be a major topic of discussion in not so good a way. Hearing statements like ‘I’m busy!’ or ‘I don’t have time for family’ or ‘I’m always sitting in front of the laptop’ has unfortunately become the norm. Another kind of work that is never-ending is for those of us who are homemakers. It is rightly said that it is a thankless job which requires 24X7 working hours, zero pay with probably no mention at home or any gatherings. 

Irrespective of the nature of our work, many a time we genuinely feel that it’s something that we need to do but would not prefer to do. Respite from it even for a couple of hours welcomes a childlike happiness in us. In the midst of all this, we feel it’s almost impossible to give time to God. We may even feel that one would need to join religious life to be able to interact with God or feel his presence daily. Or even that such a life is possible only in the Garden of Eden. 

The question is are we meant to have this kind of a reaction or attitude towards our work? Even for those of us who love the work we do, it may tend to get a bit too much at times. How then are we to not stress about what we do? Wouldn’t it be great if we were to feel blessed and grateful for whatever work we carry out in our day-to-day lives? Something that we would look forward to and have a smile or a happy thought about? You may say this is delusional talk, an idealistic way of thinking or even impossible. The truth of the matter is it is possible by God’s grace!

Let’s take a look at what God tells us through his Word. The Word of God says, The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). God intended for us to labour in it! Not laze around with everything available within reach of a stretch of our hand! Believe it or not, the potential to work peacefully is ingrained in us by God. How wonderful isn’t it? I can almost hear you guys say, but we aren’t in the Garden of Eden. I get you. God has got that covered too. The Word of God says, You who are servants who are owned by someone, obey your owners. Work hard for them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Work for them as you would for the Lord because you honor God. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters (Colossians 3:22-23). When we obey figures of authority in our life, we are ultimately serving Christ. This means in whatever we do, our master is the Holy Trinity. And he is never unjust, unkind or irrational.  So those days when the work pressure gets too much or the house is a total chaos, let’s remind ourselves that we work for God. Believe me, it changes the entire perspective towards work. But how do we centre our work towards God? It’s quite simple really. By making God a part of every miniscule thing we do.

 Let’s see how this can be done. We can commit our work to the Lord! The Word of God says Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established (Proverbs 16:3). We can make a Sign of the Cross – not in our mind, not in a super-fast FLASH sort of a way that no one notices, rather a respectful slow meaningful Sign of the Cross, whisper a prayer before start of any work or any presentation or before speaking regarding any important work! That means in a day there are at least 10 times that we can make the Sign of the Cross (my office mate does it which helped me to learn to do it as well. Real live example people! Not wishful idealistic talk). 

We all eat during the day (be it office or at home). And I’m pretty sure we eat a minimum of 3 times to a maximum of 6 times (or more!). How about saying the grace before and after meals with a meaningful Sign of the Cross? (It’s doable. Trust me. By God’s grace I try to do it for every meal). 

We all use laptops/desktops/mobiles/tablets, etc. at home and work. How about setting a Bible verse that makes us feel at peace or an image of God that draws us closer to him as our screensaver? (I have the Divine Mercy image on my phone and John 14:27 on my laptop). 

And I’m sure there are times when we may get driven up the wall by the people around us or the situations we get into. How about making it a habit to pray in that moment? Lord have mercy! Father, please help me! Jesus take the wheel! 

We could also memorise few Bible verses that we could pray with when we get in stressful situations! Psalm 90:17; Philippians 4:13; Hebrews 6:10; 1 Corinthians 4:12 (the list actually goes on!).

Many a time we are surrounded by people who just need a listening ear. No advice or long rants or essays about how they should live their life. By practising the virtue of charity of our time, we can focus our work time doing God’s will.

Trust me friends, there are endless ways in which we can make God the centre of our work life. And when we do, we can visibly see the blessings God bestows on our work. I’m not saying it’s a walk in the park! But it is most definitely not out of our reach. Our work can become joyful, bringing blessings upon us and those around us. Let us not wait for critical situations to arise to bend our knees and make earnest prayers. A small effort from our side can genuinely bear fruit and become a pleasant daily practise. When God has willed for us to work, he will definitely journey with us throughout the labour of our work. 

I pray that each of us has a renewed attitude towards our work, experience the hand of our God in all that we do and experience his abundant blessings. Amen.

Serena DSouza works at IIT Bombay carrying out research to develop diagnostics. She loves to watch movies, sing and dance amateurly, and is a big-time foodie.