I saw this on Vitamin Z's blog (see left) today - was posted on Carlos' (http://alreadyandnotyet.blogspot.com/2009/03/cs-lewis-on-real-life-interruptions.html) before that... In light of the last post I wrote, this is a good perspective, so I'm copying and pasting for your reading pleasure. That CS Lewis, such brilliance.
"C.J. Mahaney has been talking about Biblical Productivity over at his blog. In his latest installment he discusses Scheduling the Unexpected. He also shares this convicting quote by C.S. Lewis on how we view these interruptions that are sometimes quite unpleasant.
"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s “own,” or “real” life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s “real life” is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time." The Quotable Lewis (Wheaton, IL.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1989), 335."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Am I supposed to love what I do?
So I think most of you have heard me whine about work lately...and if not, I'll spare you the details - suffice it to say that work has been a challenge this semester and I feel serious dislike bordering hatred of it most days. A couple weeks ago as I was in tears over it all Marc said "maybe your job isn't for your happiness, maybe it's for your sanctification." He had just attended a men's retreat and had heard a speaker talk about the best book for marriage having that theme - that marriage isn't for happiness but rather for sanctification, and I guess that thought made an impact. Sometimes the things we do get hard (ie marriage, work, relationships, etc.), and the first thing we want to do (or at least that I want to do) is to bolt. Find something different to do. Something that makes me "happy." Nowhere that I'm aware of does the Bible say that God has done things the way he has for our happiness...our peace, our joy, our assurance, our righteousness, our holiness - yes; our happiness - no.
So this has had me thinking for the last couple weeks. Where did I get the impression that you're supposed to love what you do? Should you in fact love what you do, and if you don't, find something else to do? Does God sometimes use a growing sense of discontent with our jobs to move us into something else? Or am I just suffering from the grass is always greener syndrome? Do I buck up and do what I need to do with the intention of sticking with it because God is certainly using this time to remind me that I need his help, or do I buck up and do what I need to do with the intention of looking for something else in June? Why do I want to run away when things get hard? Is God using this turn in my job to get my heart ready to start having a family, or is my longing to stay home and start having babies based solely on not wanting to work anymore? Am I just lazy? I know that being a stay-at-home mom isn't easy, but it sure sounds better than what I'm currently doing. And what if when the time comes to start having a family I can't stay home for financial reasons...oh, that brings on the tears for sure. The thought of trying to be a wife and a mom and a good teacher all at the same time sounds awful. I know there are lots of women who do it, and do all three well...I just don't want to. I think that might make me a big baby who cries too many self-pitying tears.
Ugh, enough. Too many questions, no answers. What do you think? Should we love what we do? Should our happiness in the thing we spend so many hours a week doing have any swaying power or do we just grit our teeth and make the most of the weekends? God certainly uses experiences that we don't necessarily enjoy to sanctify us, so should I just get over this idea of happiness and know God is using my job to work changes in me? Is it okay to want (or maybe fantasize about!) a change?
So this has had me thinking for the last couple weeks. Where did I get the impression that you're supposed to love what you do? Should you in fact love what you do, and if you don't, find something else to do? Does God sometimes use a growing sense of discontent with our jobs to move us into something else? Or am I just suffering from the grass is always greener syndrome? Do I buck up and do what I need to do with the intention of sticking with it because God is certainly using this time to remind me that I need his help, or do I buck up and do what I need to do with the intention of looking for something else in June? Why do I want to run away when things get hard? Is God using this turn in my job to get my heart ready to start having a family, or is my longing to stay home and start having babies based solely on not wanting to work anymore? Am I just lazy? I know that being a stay-at-home mom isn't easy, but it sure sounds better than what I'm currently doing. And what if when the time comes to start having a family I can't stay home for financial reasons...oh, that brings on the tears for sure. The thought of trying to be a wife and a mom and a good teacher all at the same time sounds awful. I know there are lots of women who do it, and do all three well...I just don't want to. I think that might make me a big baby who cries too many self-pitying tears.
Ugh, enough. Too many questions, no answers. What do you think? Should we love what we do? Should our happiness in the thing we spend so many hours a week doing have any swaying power or do we just grit our teeth and make the most of the weekends? God certainly uses experiences that we don't necessarily enjoy to sanctify us, so should I just get over this idea of happiness and know God is using my job to work changes in me? Is it okay to want (or maybe fantasize about!) a change?
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