The soul of work

"I have no life. All I have is work," many complain.

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, was a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. People celebrate with rest and enjoyable activities. But there's more to work than making a living and achievement.

Work needs to be viewed as service and a spiritually sustaining activity that promotes healing. How can one accomplish that goal? Acts 13:2 says, "The Holy Spirit calls people to a specific work."

"If a man will not work, he shall not eat," warns 2 Thessalonians 3:10, and Ecclesiastes 5:19 tells us we can "be happy in our work."

Work is touched on, much, in Scripture, but how should one view work's purpose? Many are plagued by the "Thank God, it's Friday" mentality and live only half a life. In past years, people were urged to take a job, continue it their whole lives and make sure it had benefits and a retirement plan. But now, people change careers multiple times, both for monetary reasons and to follow one's calling.

Everyone has gifts the world needs. However, until we express our creativity we will never attain freedom of soul. Instead, we'll feel incomplete. If one cannot achieve his innermost longings through his everyday work, he ought to, and usually does, pursue them during leisure time. Reviewing our lives and noticing turning points can alert us to where God is leading us today and where we're going tomorrow.

We can look back over what seemed to be disasters in life, yet see later how they helped us in our journey toward our work or vocation. In wondering if our work is meaningful to our happiness and spirituality, we must ask ourselves certain questions as we approach crossroads. Why am I here? What is life genuinely about? What am I contributing to the world? What do I want to contribute to the world? The answers to those queries teach us there's more to life and work than having a job and making money.

That knowledge deepens our spiritual lives and our relationship with our soul. Our work ought to reveal our passions and creativity. Rather than merely following instructions, we need to disclose our inner yearnings and true talents. Our work then becomes enjoyment rather than drudgery.

When one gives energy to his zeal; meaning emerges. True work is following that inner voice, listening to the Holy Spirit and living your passions. We must express our internal endowments. We can't see work on one side of the page and spiritual life on the other. Our gifts must be a part of our lives in one way or another. If we fail to use them in our work day, we have to find another way to exercise our creativity -- for those inside longings are the God within us. If we can't use our talents, we end up living on the edges of our lives just waiting for the opportunity to accomplish what we really love.

Our work must serve some purpose in life to make it meaningful, but Thomas Moore says, "It's not enough we have 'meaningful' work. We must have work that satisfies our spirit."

Humans want to feel a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and fulfillment in their work. Feeling balanced spiritually, mentally and physically and knowing we're making contributions to the world are worthy reasons to toil. Since we spend a major part of our lives working, it's important our occupation is integrated into our overall life. And we need to ask ourselves: "Has our compassion grown with our business, our wisdom expanded with our budget and has our laughter increased with our staff?"

If the answer is, "no," we need to re-evaluate what we do, asking, "Is what I'm doing the work of my soul?"

Ellen Shuck is director of religious education at St. Mary Cathedral.