Careers, jobs and God
By Eric Haselhorst
Director of Stewardship
As a cradle Catholic I
cannot recall very many homilies or writings that spoke of careers and jobs.
What do these things have to with being a Catholic? I’m glad you ask.
Being good stewards of our time has
everything to do with our choice of careers. Most Americans will spend 100,000
hours working throughout their lifetime. That is a tremendous amount of time
spent in various vocations. In addition, the average job in
With this information, does your job choice
or career path reflect God’s plan for you? God gave all of us unique talents
and gifts to bring honor and glory to His kingdom. It is wise to consider
everything we have from Jesus and glorify Him by using it well. What we do for
a living can reflect God’s love for us. Work does have obvious practical
implications; we like to eat, keep a roof over our head, drive to work, and
shower with hot water. But work should reflect our values and not be a place to
dread on Monday and rejoice on Friday. All forms of work have levels of stress
and frustration. However, if God has directed us where to work, the good should
outweigh the bad.
Many
people are “tied” to various occupations out of necessity or lifestyle choices.
If that is your case, it is time to look at education levels or it is time to
make lifestyle changes to become exactly who God made you to be. This is not an
easy process. It requires a sacrifice of time to read books and learn new
skills. It can require that we look at spending patterns so we can make career
changes. Changing our current situations is scary. The “What
if” question and the “Second guessing” syndrome can cripple us from
fulfilling God’s plan. A complete trust in Jesus to see us through is
the path to discipleship and stewardship. If the struggles from change put fear
in you, read the following story.
A
man found a cocoon. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the
butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that
little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it
had gotten as far as it could go. So, the man decided to help the butterfly. He
took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon. The
butterfly then emerged easily. But, it has a swollen body and small, shriveled
wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at
any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body,
which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent
the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness of haste, did not
understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the
butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from
the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight
once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without
any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could
have been. We could never fly!
If a current job is not where God is
calling you to be, ask for His plan to be revealed.
In the mean time, look for ways to grow by taking a class, reading a book, or
developing skills. If a current career choice is God’s call. Glorify Him by
doing it well and give thanks and praise by returning a portion back to Him.