Work and a New Year’s Resolution

I am not normally given to New Year’s resolutions, but I did begin this New Year with something akin to one.

By the end of last year, I could no longer avoid the conclusion that my work ethic had deteriorated.  I find my developing understanding of the Franciscan ideals of simplicity and poverty in direct conflict with the emphasis on money that is unavoidably inherent in my culture’s understanding of work.  This tie between a gluttonous approach to money and work made my opinion of everyday work so distasteful that I dreaded getting out of bed in the morning.

In acknowledging this paralysis, I also realized I was procrastinating, not just about work, but about everything in my life that needed doing.  When I think about that procrastination, I find it every bit as distasteful as the gluttonous approach to money that contributed to my original problem.

I need something more, a source of work motivation that will allow me to re-embrace a proper work ethic.  I need to find a way to bring the ideals of my secular Franciscan profession and my responsibilities to my family into better harmony.  I understand that according to the SFO Rule there should not be a conflict between the two.  Nonetheless, my reality contains a conflict, so I need a better understanding of those ideals if I am to gain the harmony that this unwarranted conflict is obstructing.

My first approach, of course, is prayer.  My first subject for that prayer is contained in the previous post More from Francis on Work, but I will repeat it here:

“Those brothers whom the Lord favors with the gift of working should do so faithfully and devotedly, so that idleness, the enemy of the soul, is excluded yet the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, which all other temporal things should serve, is not extinguished.”

I have spent a couple weeks on this already.  I know the next post will be on the idea of work as gift.  And I know there is a post coming on a definition of work that is different and much broader than the current cultural connotation I would associate with that word.

I am sure there will be more than that before I am through considering these words.  I know I am fascinated by the idea of work being subservient and contributing to a spirit of holy prayer and devotion, but I have not gotten that far yet.

But I think just this post is a good sign.

I hope it means I am no longer procrastinating about keeping this journal alive and vibrant.