Category Archives: Workplace

House of Prayer, Intercession, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life, Servanthood, Workplace, Worship

Life on the beach – or on the farm?

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Over the years I have had many conversations with colleagues at work about their goals in life.

I remember one man in particular who made it quite clear what he wanted. His goal was to build up a nice financial nest egg so that he could retire, relax, and enjoy life. As he saw it, the good life is “life on the beach”, or “life at the cottage”, or some other form of permanent vacation, and the purpose of work is to build up enough wealth so that we can spend the rest of our days doing exactly as we please, with no-one to answer to but ourselves.

More recently I had a conversation with another colleague. In addition to working as an IT consultant, she and her husband own and operate a small farm where they raise goats, beef cattle and horses. Marion and I like buying meat from her because we know it’s not laced with antibiotics and hormones. This colleague told me recently that she had considered giving up farming but she couldn’t do it, because she doesn’t want to live without a purpose. For her, farming is a way of life that embodies purposeful and therefore satisfying activity. She enjoys finding cost-effective and inventive ways of meeting the challenge of raising animals organically. Her dream isn’t “life on the beach”, it’s “life on the farm”. She does want to have sufficient freedom to be able to take a vacation with her husband every now and then (a challenge for many farmers) but she can’t stand living without a purpose.

Life on the beach – or on the farm? A permanent vacation – or a life of purposeful activity? Serving yourself, or serving others? Which would you choose?

I’d pick life on the farm any day.

Let me be clear. I love vacations. I know I need rest. It was great to go to Florida for a week last year, and Marion and I loved our holiday at a cottage on Drummond Island with children and grandchildren the year before. I thoroughly enjoy weekends with their (somewhat) more relaxed pace. But I can’t stand the thought of living without any purpose but to satisfy my own desires. That kind of life would kill me. The beach is great for a break from the farm, but give me the farm over the beach for a satisfying life that’s well-lived.

No, I’m not considering another career change, nor a change of location. I am now thoroughly and happily transplanted from my former life in rural Russell Township to my current life in inner-city Vanier, and I have no regrets about the change. Although I do have a small garden, I have no plans to take up farming. I know that I am exactly where God wants me to be.

But like my farming colleague, I don’t want to live without a purpose. And like her, I see myself as a type of farmer. I’m not raising hay, grain, goats and cattle. I’m tending people’s hearts. The farm isn’t mine, it’s God’s. But I am one of his sharecroppers. Other servants have planted the seed of His saving, lifegiving truth in many hearts, and my job is to tend and nurture the seeds that have sprouted into young, growing plants.

On God’s farm there are lots of jobs to be done. Some people do more planting than anything else. These are the ones who love telling complete strangers – everyone they can find – about Jesus. Others spend more of their time fertilizing and watering the crops. These are the ones who love to help others understand the word of God and how it applies to their life. Some people spend most of their time feeding and looking after the other workers. That’s just as important. There are other jobs as well. Like on most farms, everyone does a bit of everything at times, but some people specialize more in some areas than in others.

In my years of working on God’s farm I’ve planted seeds, and I’ve also watered and fertilized them. But what I love to do most is to make sure that the young plants can see the Son. That, to me, is what the ministry of worship and prayer is all about. Plants don’t grow if they can’t see the light. Believers need to be able to see the Son so that they can become like Him. God has an enemy who is constantly planting weeds in the midst of His good crops. Sometimes those weeds threaten to choke the life out of the crops that God’s servants have planted. Sometimes the weeds seem to get so thick that it’s hard to see the Son. When that happens, the ministry of worship and prayer has a wonderful way of clearing spaces in the undergrowth so that we can see the light of His face. In fact, the more we worship, the more the weeds seem to just disappear, and the crops of God’s planting begin to flourish and thrive and reproduce. It’s amazing.

All workers need rest. I’m glad that on God’s farm there are refreshing streams and green pastures where his servants can be renewed and restored. But I’m so glad that God has made me for fruitful labour in his fields.

The day of harvest is coming. When that day comes, I want to be found faithful in the labour to which He has assigned me.

 

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Faith and Relationships, Intimacy with God, Reflections on Life, Workplace

A childlike heart

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Sophie playing with her boat (click to expand)

This morning at work I was showing pictures of our recent vacation to my colleague Dean.  Dean is a very devoted Dad who often talks about the activities of his four children.  His youngest is a toddler, about a year younger than my oldest granddaughter Sophie, so we sometimes compare notes on how our “little ones” are doing.  When I showed him my picture of Sophie playing with her boat on the beach during our vacation (note her delighted expression seen in the photo above), Dean commented on how appealing young children are.  He said it was because everything is new to them.  Another way of putting this is that they aren’t jaded or blasé about life.

Of course, lest we get too sentimental, let’s not forget that young children are a lot of work.  They are almost entirely self-focussed and can be very demanding.   But the other side of the coin is that they are also very responsive to affection, they trust very easily, and (perhaps their most appealing quality) their hearts are wide open to wonder.  They don’t have  explanations for everything.  Many things are exciting to them, and the world is full of new discoveries.

As we grow up, we become more independent, more conscious of our own identity, more focussed on our own abilities, goals and responsibilities.  We try to control the world through understanding it.  It’s natural and necessary for us to grow up to maturity.  Yet Jesus pointed to little children as an example of the attitude of the humility and simplicity that is required to enter the Kingdom of God.   He wasn’t saying that His followers should stay immature.  He was saying that part of true maturity is the ability to stay childlike – to step back from our sophistication and self-importance, and allow ourselves to wonder at the amazing things God has done and is doing.  He said that the most important things – the things of God – are hidden from the wise and self-important, and revealed to little children – by which I believe he meant those with a childlike heart.

I have found that when I take time – even a few minutes a day – to shut down my “thinker” and just enjoy the goodness of God in its many forms, my whole day is more positive.  My capacities for expectancy, confidence in God, faith, hope, peace, joy and love are expanded.

I want to live a good life – a fruitful, productive, God-honouring life.  But I know I can’t do this on my own.  I need the grace of God.  For too many years I tried too hard to be good and do good.  It didn’t work.  I have found that when I take time to delight myself in the wonders of God, my life becomes more like the life that was modelled by Jesus.  We are told that without faith it is impossible to please Him.  Taking time to delight in the goodness of God, with a child’s attitude of wonder, helps me keep my heart tender and expands my capacity for faith.

Lord, help me to walk through life with a childlike heart.

 

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Reflections on Life, Workplace

Looking forward to Monday morning

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Pretty well everyone at my workplace loves Fridays.  Friday is the last day of the work week in the government office where I work as an IT subcontractor, and a near-festival atmosphere prevails.

Most people look forward to weekends and holidays, and I am no exception.  I love having extra time to spend with family and friends, to do things around the house that need doing, to make music and play racquetball and go for walks with my wife and talk with my children.

Almost nobody at my office admits to liking Monday mornings.  Well, maybe I’m just really weird (as my children sometimes lovingly tell me) but truth be told, I actually look forward to going back to work on Monday morning.

It wasn’t always this way.  When I made the switch almost fifteen years ago from full-time church worker to student and then IT professional, I found the transition very difficult, and it took me several years to adapt to the culture of the secular workplace.  Along the way, though, I’ve come to see some things about the inherent value of work.

One thing I’ve learned is that we are made to be both creative and productive.  This is because humans are made in God’s image.  We are designed and intended to govern the earth, to bring forth fruit, and in so doing to reflect the nature of God.  Consider the vastness of the universe, and then stop to consider the amazing intricacy of even the simplest living cell.  Our Creator is amazingly productive!  Work that is well done reflects His image and gives glory to the One who made us.

Secondly, I’ve come to see that work is not a curse but a blessing.  It is true that after Adam and Eve rebelled against God, Adam was told that his work would become more difficult.  This was part of the curse that came onto creation when our first parents turned away from the God who made them and chose independence.  I long for the day when Jesus returns to rule openly as King and the creation is fully restored to its intended glory, but I have learned that even now the oppressive power of the curse has been broken for those who have placed their hope in Christ.

This is not just a bunch of religious words.  What I am writing here is something that I have actually experienced in my own life.  Once I had surrendered control of my life to Jesus Christ, I gradually learned what it meant to see my life as a gift from God.  One of the great blessings that comes with this perspective on life is that instead of being a meaningless waste of time, work is a way to give glory to God and express thanks to Him for His goodness.  Although we will not see all things fully restored until Jesus returns to rule the earth,  even now our work can be a source of joy and satisfaction if we make it a conscious offering of thanks and praise to God.

Thirdly, all work is spiritually significant – not just the work of preaching and teaching and healing and making disciples.  I remember reading an article several years ago on the rapid growth of evangelical Christianity in much of Latin America.  One of the comments that got my attention was made by a business owner who recognized that Christians made better employees because they were productive and reliable.  Jesus taught his followers to let their light shine so that people around them would sees God’s goodness and give thanks to Him.  Yes, there are frustrations in any workplace, but I have a choice about my own attitude. Any job done well, with a thankful heart, to the glory of God, is a testimony to God’s faithfulness and goodness.  As we adopt this mindset towards our work, we are changed and the people around us are influenced for the better, often more than we realize.

Fourthly, all work can be a training ground for service in the Kingdom of God.  Peter, Andrew, James and John were commercial fishermen before they were called to be apostles.  Paul was a tent-maker, and Jesus himself was a carpenter.  Character is formed through work.  I believe that I am a better disciple of Jesus and more equipped for leadership and service in the Kingdom of God because I have spent the last fifteen years learning and practicing what some would see as an entirely secular occupation.  During these years I have learned many valuable lessons that are directly applicable to life in the kingdom of God.  I love the fact that the elders of my church have years of experience in various secular trades and occupations, and most of them still earn their living outside the church.  This makes their testimony and teaching very believable.  What they teach, they have practiced in real life.

Fifthly, work is an opportunity to build relationships with people who need to know that God loves them and has a good purpose for their lives.  The people we work with matter to God!  Many of Jesus’ life-changing encounters with people took place while they were at work.  Paul the apostle got to know Aquila and Priscilla, who became major partners in his ministry, through working with them in his trade as a tent-maker.  One of my prayers is for God to give me His heart for those I work with, so that I can see them through His eyes and be the positive influence that He wants me to be in the workplace.

I am writing this on a Sunday morning.  I still have most of Sunday ahead of me, and I am looking forward to worshipping with my church community, talking to Simeon, Heather and Sophie on Skype, hanging out with Bethany and Dunovan, and whatever other forms of enjoyment and relaxation the day holds.  I am very grateful for a day of rest and relaxation.  But I’m also thankful that I can go to work tomorrow.  By the grace of God, I can say that I am looking forward to Monday morning, and I fully expect to have a good day when I go back to work.

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Faith and Politics, Reflections on Life, Workplace

Mind your own business

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Did you ever stop to notice how much of the conversation that goes on around you every day consists of judgment and criticism of other people?

Consider a very common scenario.  You’re hanging out with friends, workmates or schoolmates, and the focus of the conversation shifts to someone who is not present.  Everyone has something to say, and very little of it is constructive, positive or complimentary.  On the contrary, most of what is said consists of putdowns, mocking humour, and complaints.  This tendency is especially common when the person we are talking about is a recognized figure who has attained some success in business, sports or entertainment, or who has some influence or control over our lives – a boss, manager, teacher, parent, spiritual leader or politician.

I grew up in what was in many respects a wonderful family.  However, we certainly weren’t immune from this very common tendency to find fault with others; in fact it was part of the daily bread on which I grew up.  We were a very opinionated bunch, and somehow it seemed we always knew what was wrong with everyone.  On Sunday afternoons after church we would often have roast pastor for lunch.  So, when I surrendered my life to the Lord at age 34 and the Holy Spirit began putting his finger on the areas in which my thinking and behaviour needed radical surgery, one of the first areas to go under the knife was my well-developed tendency towards sarcasm, criticism and judgment.  I’m very grateful to God that before long I was introduced to a form of prayer ministry that helped me to go to the root of these issues, looking deeper than the outward behaviour and addressing the hidden motivations and reasonings of the heart.

Prayer ministry taught me much about my own heart and much about God’s wisdom.  I learned that this tendency to be critical of others may be fuelled by bitterness, resentment, insecurity, inferiority, superiority, or a toxic mix of all of these and more, but the core issue is always the same.  At the root, it is a form of rebellion against God.  Whatever our reasoning, we assign ourselves the right to judge someone who is not accountable to us.  This is always an illegitimate exercise and can never lead to any good.  In the words of the Apostle Paul, Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. In other words, mind your own business.  You and I have enough to do looking after the areas that God has assigned to us, without troubling ourselves with someone else’s failings – perceived or real.

One factor that probably feeds our tendency to be critical of leaders is the fact that we live in a democracy.   We are raised on the idea that public criticism of leaders is part of how we protect ourselves from bad government.  Well, democracy is not actually a Biblical idea, but like all political systems it can be used by God.  One of the keys to making democracy serve God’s purposes is the recognition that all leaders are appointed by God.  Even if He is simply allowing us to have the government we have chosen, in the end our leaders are accountable to God, not to us, and our role is not simply to push for our preferences but to seek leadership that will further God’s Kingdom.   We do this, in part, by honouring and praying for the leaders that God has either caused or allowed to be put in place, even if we don’t always agree with them.  There is, of course, a place for constructive criticism, but one of the keys to keeping it constructive is humility and submission to God.  Even in extreme situations (Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Mugabe’s Zimbabwe) where a monster rules and must be actively resisted, we still need to guard our hearts.  Ultimately God, not you or I, is qualified to judge.  If we forget this, we become monsters ourselves.

But what about the areas closer to home – work, family, church?  The more experience I have of being in leadership, the easier I find it to forgive the failings of the leaders in my life.  Admittedly, even the best leaders have faults; and I’m not suggesting we should simply turn a totally blind eye to these things.   At times we may be called by God to make an appeal to one of the people who gives leadership in our lives.  If we are given the opportunity to do this, and we can do it with grace and humility, we may be used by God to help the leader be more effective.  A wise leader will welcome open discussion of issues in a constructive spirit.  However, I’m far more likely to be trusted by a leader who can see that I haven’t got an axe to grind or a point to prove.   If at all possible, I need to make it my aim to work with the leaders in my life to help them succeed.  In the process, I too will be blessed, and so will all those around me.

In the end, the remedy is simple.  Guard your tongue, and guard your heart.  Why complicate your life by making it your job to identify and address everyone else’s failings?  If you want to do this, the Devil will give you lots of ammunition, but you won’t be giving glory to God and your relationships will be stormy at best.  If I can learn to mind my own business – keeping my gaze focussed on trusting and obeying God, recognizing that He has assigned a sphere of responsibility to me, doing the best job I can to be a good steward of what He’s put into my hands, and recognizing that everyone around me will answer to Him just as I will – life becomes a lot simpler, less aggravating, and much more satisfying and productive.  Who wouldn’t want that?

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