{"id":2897,"date":"2023-08-16T07:21:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T11:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2023-08-16T07:21:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T11:21:34","slug":"our-toilsome-labor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/16\/our-toilsome-labor\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Toilsome Labor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>.

Throughout the month of August,\u00a0we\u2019re looking at Ecclesiastes, that strange and seemingly \u201cmodern\u201d Old Testament book that depicts what happens when humanity searches for ultimate meaning apart from God.\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0
According to the Gallup Organization, comparatively few people experience satisfaction in\u00a0their work.
\u00a0
Based on their surveys of hundreds of thousands of people, Gallup reports that only 13% regularly feel engaged by their jobs.\u00a0 The majority of workers (63%) feel \u201cunengaged\u201d \u2013 that is, essentially neutral.\u00a0 That leaves a scary 24% feeling generally disengaged<\/em>.
\u00a0
What accounts for this dismal state of affairs?
\u00a0
In his book Why We Work, <\/em>Barry Schwartz states the most common explanation.\u00a0 It\u2019s assumed that only certain kinds of jobs \u2013 the creative and interesting ones \u2013 allow people to learn and grow.\u00a0 \u201cFor everyone else, work will be just about the paycheck.\u201d Jobs that require few skills or little training are assumed to suck all the joy out of life.\u00a0 Yet society requires millions of such jobs.
\u00a0
Unsatisfying work is therefore the price we pay for sustaining the Industrial Revolution.\u00a0
\u00a0
Schwartz admits this explanation is plausible.\u00a0 But he is convinced it is wrong.\u00a0 He cites the work of Amy Wrzesniewski and her colleagues at the Yale School of Management.\u00a0 They interviewed numerous workers who do comparatively unglamorous jobs, like cleaning hospitals.
\u00a0
Wrzesniekwski sat down with a hospital custodian named Luke.\u00a0 \u201cPlease tell me about your job.\u201d
\u00a0
What Luke shared was fascinating.\u00a0 He recounted the time he cleaned a comatose patient\u2019s room twice.\u00a0 <\/em>Why in the world would he do such a thing?\u00a0
\u00a0
The father of that particular patient had been keeping vigil over his comatose son.\u00a0 He had stepped out for a few minutes and thus hadn\u2019t witnessed Luke\u2019s first round of cleaning.
\u00a0
\u201cI kind of knew the situation about his son,\u201d Luke remembered.\u00a0 \u201cHis son had been there a long time.\u00a0 His father would stay here all day, every day.\u201d\u00a0 When the father assumed the room hadn\u2019t been cleaned, he confronted Luke in the hall and \u201cjust freaked out, telling me I didn\u2019t do it.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cAt first I got on the defensive, and I was going to argue with him.\u00a0 But something caught me.\u00a0 I said, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I\u2019ll go clean the room.\u2019\u201d
\u00a0
He did it gladly.\u00a0 \u201cI cleaned it so he could see me clean it.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t angry about it.\u00a0 I guess I could understand.\u201d
\u00a0
Here we need to pause and note that Luke\u2019s job description includes an almost endless series of repetitive tasks:\u00a0operating carpet shampooers, picking up trash, wet-mopping floors and stairways, collecting and disposing of soiled linens, cleaning toilets, stocking supplies, replacing lightbulbs, dusting window blinds, and on and on.
\u00a0
There is not a word about taking responsibility for caring for patients and their families \u2013 not so much as a sentence about interacting with other human beings.
\u00a0
But when Luke was asked to talk about his work, he described \u201ca different job than his official description would suggest.\u201d
\u00a0
Luke had internalized the mission of his hospital.\u00a0 In spite of<\/em> his official job description, not because of<\/em> it, he had come to understand that his true calling was taking care of patients, cheering them up, encouraging them, diverting them from pain and fear, and giving them a willing ear when they needed to talk.\u00a0
\u00a0
Not one of those tasks appeared on Luke\u2019s daily checklist.\u00a0 But his greatest joy came from trying to serve real people, even when they were at their worst.
\u00a0
The author of Ecclesiastes knows all about the drudgery of work.\u00a0 The fourth chapter begins with this demoralizing observation: \u201cAgain I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun.\u00a0 I saw the tears of the oppressed \u2013 and they have no comforter.\u00a0 Power was on the side of their oppressors \u2013 and they have no comforter\u201d (Ecclesiastes 4:1).\u00a0 Jobs that we might classify as being in the \u201cservice sector\u201d in the 21st<\/sup> century were more likely to be forced labor in the ancient Near East.\u00a0 And there were no HR departments to see that people were treated well.
\u00a0
Even for those who enjoyed some freedom with regard to work, the dark side of competitiveness might intrude: \u201cAnd I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person\u2019s envy of another\u201d (4:4).
\u00a0
Solomon concludes that we all need to make the best of it: \u201cThis is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink, and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them \u2013 for this is their lot\u201d (5:18).\u00a0
\u00a0
How do we best \u201cfind satisfaction\u201d in the toilsome labor of being hospital custodians, lawyers, corn de-tasslers, accountants, school bus drivers, chefs, nurses, sales reps, toll booth collectors, homemakers, social workers, and preschool teachers?
\u00a0
Barry Schwartz thinks he knows the answer.\u00a0 There\u2019s a monumental difference between a calling and a career \u2013 between working for a purpose and working for a check.\u00a0 If we see our work every day as a calling \u2013 as part of a greater story than just completing a series of tasks \u2013 we are highly likely to be personally engaged.
\u00a0
As Paul urges his readers, \u201cWhatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord\u2026\u201d (Colossians 3:23).\u00a0
\u00a0
If we\u2019re energized by an innate sense of mission, even the most routine jobs can become a gift that we give every day to God and to others.
\u00a0
And here\u2019s the best part:\u00a0The person most likely to be transformed by such a perspective is you.<\/em>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here. Throughout the month of August,\u00a0we\u2019re looking at Ecclesiastes, that strange and seemingly \u201cmodern\u201d Old Testament book that depicts what happens when humanity searches for ultimate meaning apart from God.\u00a0\u00a0According to the Gallup Organization, comparatively few people experience satisfaction in\u00a0their work.\u00a0Based on their surveys of hundreds of thousands of people, Gallup reports… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[618,49],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ecclesiastes","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2899,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/2899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}