So the titles of yesterday’s and today’s posts fit together: Calm down, Martha! But do your work well.
A couple of ideas culled from a recently-heard sermon at my church on work: Avoid working simply for a paycheck (“working for the weekend”–as the little guy in the picture seems to be doing) or valuing yourself solely by your work and how well you do it. Instead, do your work for God’s glory and the good of mankind. A pretty high bar!
Of course work doesn’t always or only equal a job or a career. It’s often “stuff I have to do.” I’m impressed more and more that how I do that “stuff” has a huge impact on my life and the people around me. Does it really matter if the laundry (that perennial topic) sits in the basket for days before I finally get it folded and put away? Actually, yes. Western civilization won’t end if the socks aren’t in the drawer. But it does matter. It matters to me. I have a genetic anomaly that allows me to look at work, even a task that would take ten minutes, and just . . . not do it. (Oh, wait. That’s not an anomaly.)
So I’ve spent huge amounts of time today reading, or “becoming an informed citizen,” as I’d put it. I’ve been trying to figure out what really happened in the attack on Benghazi back in 2012, and I want to write a post about it over on my “personal and political” page at some point when I think I have a handle on it. But maybe I’d better address what needs to be done right now. I’m not going to change history no matter how well-informed I am. But (this great insight just occurred to me) I can change the future. What I do right now is going to affect tonight, and tomorrow. . . . Hmmm. I’ll have to think about this. A major insight? Maybe.In the meantime, I’ll get up from this chair and go work on my Chorale music. (Have you read my first post of the season over on the “Behind the Music” page? This week’s post was about a piece by the modern American composer Norman Dello Joio, but next week’s post is going to be about the deep inner meaning in the two songs “Cindy” (as in “Get Along Home, Cindy, Cindy”) and “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain When She Comes.” I anticipate great insights coming up.
What stuff do you need to do right now?