Work we had better be doing

Ephesians 2 from the Message;

7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

In the lunch on Thursday, life coach Shane read this from Ephesians. I was really looking forward to this lunch topic. I was just really hoping for some ideas. And I still had to do a minor "don't-cry" pep talk. And I was a little surprised by it.

I mean, a job is just a job, right? This one pretty much the same as that one. And just because most days in my current job I feel a little lightheaded because of the lack of oxygen in my office, thanks to overbearing burdens of too much work, not enough people, crazy deadlines and a feeling of the never-ending sameness of every day...wait, did I say that out loud? Anyway, aren't most places like that? I work for a good company with a great product. I like working with my friends. I like pulling pretty things out of boxes and seeing nice photos. I like lunch. And my skills are perfect for this job. I grew up here. I'm successful here. It's home.

Whether or not home is where I need to be, I don't believe crushing never-ending sameness is what my life should be about. As Ephesians says, I've been created to join Christ Jesus in the works he's doing, work I should be doing. I don't believe the place is the problem. I think the biggest problem is that I'm not plugged in to where God is working.

I don't know that this means a change of place. I do think it means a change of attitude. At the very least, there's something more I should be doing that requires some of the energy that leaks out of me during the day in my oxygen-light atmosphere.

So I think the first thing to do is to have the right attitude about work. And here's a confession: in my life, there is no small stuff. Every challenge is a big challenge, life or death, critical. It's never too soon to panic. And I know that's just not true. I can work hard enough, push hard enough, grind through, and plug every problem with a solution and still fail in the end because of something out of my control. So...learning not to sweat the small stuff might be a good step.

How in the world do I do that?