Work – Life Balance

It was one of those mornings, I just didn’t want to wake up to work. It was alright though, as I was going to work from home. I lazyly woke up, brushed my teeth, and got ready for my 8 AM call, which was my first meeting for the day. My mom comments as I cozy up in my plush throw to take my call, “You should work hard for your pay you know.” In agreement, I respond, “Yes, but study shows it is good to have a lazy day once in a while, makes you more productive on other days.”

 

I feel lucky to have a full-time job I don’t have to spend more the 40 hours a week. I could definitely boast of having a good work-life balance with at least 2 to 3 hours a day to invest in my hobbies, cook my own food now and then, learn new things, may be a new language and of course the whole weekend is mine to travel, go camping, or spend a day on the lake, meet up with friends and just have fun and relax. Of course I spend time reading the Bible and praying as well.

 

The reason I’m bringing up my full time job and my successful efforts at work life balance is because I realised how ineffective I am at reproducing the same with my all time job – as a Christian. My record for this job would look something like below.

 

Hire date: When baptised

Compensation: A Saviour

Bonuses: Frequent blessings

Benefits: Goodness, mercy, unconditional love, and a free gift of the Holy Spirit upon request

Job Description: “To know God, love God, serve God, and to be happy with God forever in Heaven.” (If you didn’t learn this in sunday school or catechism as a response to : “Why did God make me?”, then you might have learnt something similar, to simply explain the purpose for life. It’s so easy to understand I still like to repeat this when life gets to complex)

 

I did not have to hunt for this job but I have been lucky to have been chosen and recruited at birth. Doing a self appraisal at my performance so far: I love God, I love to pray, I read the Bible, I acknowledge Him very often, from when I wake up, and throughout the day. But, the amount of time I spend doing things I love, with people I love, and in places I love were much higher compared to the 20 to 30 minutes I spend reading the Bible or spending time for God. I fear I may be treating this more as a hobby.

 

Remembering the story of the teacher who taught their students about prioritising their lives, it concludes like so; if our life were a bottle, we first fill it with larger stones which are the most important things in our life, second come smaller stones, and then the sand. If we fill the bottle in the reverse order, there will be no room left in the sand filled bottle for the more important stones. I should really be dedicating time and treating my Christian duties as pebbles in my bottle, while right now it fits around my other schedules like sand.

 

After the self appraisal I tell myself, “I should work harder for my pay as a Christian.”

I can never repay Christ, but I really should be more dedicated, and spend focused time and energy in being a Christian.

 

I am going to keep it simple and easy like the job description. It’s not about giving up everything that you do which may be unrelated to the church or religion, it’s about a balance. A healthy balance between living for God and living only for one’s own happiness. The trick is to glorify God in everything we do, including our jobs and our hobbies, and having fun with friends and family. This way we will be constantly fulfilling your duties. As the saying goes, live so that the people may see your works and Glorify your Father in Heaven.

 

Just as open ended as the job description, each of us can have our own interpretation of how we fulfill our Christian duties. From the parable of the talents, we learn that God distributes talents to everyone and is waiting for us to make the best use of it and to be fruitful.

 

I hope to make my job a way of life, and fulfill it with all my love. I hope to come out better each day and each year at being a Christian, and learn more on the job from my own experiences and from others.

 

How would you describe your job duties as a Christian?

 

Photo by Nina Uhlíková from Pexels