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Shrinking the Camel

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Careers, Workplace and Religion
Want to Get More Spiritually Engaged at Work? There’s an App for That.

Want to Get More Spiritually Engaged at Work? There’s an App for That.

Last updated on: October 9, 2009 at 5:13 am by JBW

Want to Get More Spiritually Engaged at Work? There’s an App for That. 2009-10-09T05:13:16-05:00 JBW

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Sometimes it seems like God is everywhere, except at work. We behold God’s glory in the sanctuaries. We extol his handiwork in the beauty of nature. We consider His tender mercies in the warmth of our friendships and family. But now pan the camera over to the manufacturing plant floor, or to the rows of cubicles in the corporate office tower, and – Ooops! Where’d He go? I swear, He was just there a minute ago! Wasn’t that Him there in the car with me when I drove in?

I don’t know exactly when this happened, or why, but for most of us there is a huge disconnect between our spiritual lives and our working lives. When I complain about this to my friend and spiritual-business mentor, Dr. Payne, he frequently reminds me of the obvious: If I believe that God is infinitely loving and omnipresent, then he is already at my job, whether I acknowledge it or not. All I have to do is get better at recognizing His presence, and bring Him more fully into my work situations. The only problem is, I keep forgetting.

One of the most frustrating things about trying to live out our spiritual lives at work is that it is difficult to monitor our engagement throughout the day. I don’t know about you, but instead of thinking about the work of the Holy Spirit, I usually get caught up in work itself: the stress, the action of the deal, the next phone call, meeting or email – whatever is going on in the heat of the moment. Even when an effort is made to start off the day with a spiritual download through meditation, prayer or scripture reading, it seems that once I hit the office door and enter the fray of the business swirl, my spiritual intentions can quickly vaporize into thin air.

An entire day can easily go by without giving a second thought to how our daily work activity connects to our spiritual purpose. This may very well cause us to miss out on many opportunities to do good. Or worse yet, create a lack of spiritual meaning in our jobs which can lead to outright burnout. Did someone need a word of encouragement, but we blew them off instead? Was that discipline doled out too harshly? Was there a difficult meeting that could have been enhanced by a brief prayer beforehand, instead of indulging in the panicky anxiety rising up in your gut? Are we getting a bit too focused on that bonus? There are so many opportunities to bring God’s spirit into the workplace, but most of the time we just forget to do it.

So then, exactly how are we supposed to stay spiritually engaged at work? What I think we need is some kind of application tool, a spiritual-tracking device that buzzes or dings us just at the right moment to keep us on course. Perhaps it might also include a robotic but breathy and attractive female voice, one that can direct us to recalibrate our thoughts towards a higher spiritual plane. I can imagine how helpful that would be in a moment of stress:

“Barker, get over here! Where are those financial reports I asked for? I needed them yesterday to prepare for my Board presentation! Now I’m going to be up all night long, you lousy, no-good…”

DING!

Breathe.

Recalibrate.

God’s Spirit is in You.

“Er.. Hey Barker, buddy, what’s been going on with you? Is everything alright? Hey, I really was depending on you for those financial reports. What? I never asked you for them? Gosh, I apologize. Can you help me out, then? You see, I have this really important meeting tomorrow with the Board, and you could save my skin if you were able to help me compile some reports. Can we take a look at your schedule?”

DING! DING! DING!

Well done, good and faithful servant.

Continue on.

To your.

Next.

Station.

Since I couldn’t find a spiritual calibration application for my i-phone, I have developed one myself, and I am more than willing to share it with you. It is a simple, five-step process that you can apply directly to your work life to improve your business-spiritual connection, immediately. Well, maybe not immediately. I have learned that spiritually speaking, immediacy is not necessarily the best goal. It’s not like you can approach spiritual growth the same way you attack next quarter’s net earnings target. Spiritual growth is more like a slow-cooker. First you have to throw in all right ingredients, and then you have to let them simmer and stew real good over time. After a while, your friends will come over to you and say, “Mmmm, something smells good! What have you been up to over here?”

So, your first application is to wait patiently. You can do that, right? Stay tuned for next week’s post, where you will get an STC exclusive: The Five Rules of Spiritual Engagement at Work.

To be continued.

Faith in the Workplace

Spirituality

Disconnect between work and faith

Spiritual Engagement at Work

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