As I began the quest to resolve the conflicts in my life caused by my inadequate understanding of work, I started by praying over just these words taken from the beginning of the Franciscan Rule of 1223, Chapter 5:
“Those brothers whom the Lord favors with the gift of working….”
As I did so, I immediately recognized that I have never before thought of work as a gift from God.
If these words had read “Those brothers whom the Lord favors with the gift of a loving wife…,” or “Those brothers whom the Lord favors with the gift of children…,” they would not have caused me to hesitate for a moment.
But defining work as a gift from God not only caused me to hesitate, it stopped me pretty much cold. This is because the word work has always been an essentially secular term for me. Work is something I do from 8-5, Monday through Friday, in order to provide material support for my family. It references my secular career, not my spiritual life. Its a burden to bear, a cross to be born. When its all said and done, its about money, the root of all evil.
Let me repeat myself for emphasis. I always thought of work as a material idea, not a spiritual idea. Therefore I wanted as little to do with it as possible because I find the material so much less important than the spiritual.
Francis turns that on its head. If work is a gift from God, then it is essentially spiritual at its core and nothing the secular world does, nothing that the culture I live in dictates, can change that.
As long as I remain mindful that work is a gift from God, then my attitude about work changes completely.
For the last couple weeks, I have used my smart phone as a tool to maintain this mindfulness. In the mornings I set my alarm for 8:55, then 9:55, then 10:55, then 11:55. When it goes off, I stop what I am doing and spend five minutes praying over the words above.
Doing so keeps me mindful and reinforces this idea that work is a gift from God. As I pray over the phrase, I experience no doubt about its truthfulness. Old habits die hard. I still have to fight the tendency to procrastinate. But the more I pray over the phrase, the more wondrous I find it.
My attitude is changing. My pessimism and lethargy are receding. For the first time in some time, I am starting to put tasks behind me. It even seems possible I might get caught up to my insanely busy life in the not too distant future.
God is doing this for me. Francis is doing this for me.
Really, its overwhelming. Words can not express the gratitude I feel for the change in outlook I have experienced. For a long time, I have feared such a change was not possible. I feared that thinking of the burden as cross was the best outlook I could hope for.
But God has proved that wrong. I just wish I would have sought His help earlier.
A simple “Thank you, God” and “Thank you, Francis” is all I can muster in response.