Does my work matter in heaven?

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Sounds incongruous doesn’t it? To link work with heaven. Or does it??

Before this Covid 19 entered our globe, I used to be a Gym Addict.

And one of the things that used to really annoy me was the Zippy voice of the latest DJ on the morning Radio show yapping out the same line over and over again: 

‘Well folks, it’s just four and a half days, and X minutes until the weekend. So, hang on in there till Friday.’

 As if life began on Fridays and ended on Monday mornings!

I happened to be one of those people who actually ENJOYED my work. In fact, I loved it.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the weekend, together with the freedom it offered. But that freedom only made sense when I had achieved something in the week. When I had WORKED.

Can I only connect work and heaven when it is paid employment?

What about those people who find themselves unemployed, without any work?

Or those who have retired from work?

Find God in your work

I think it was Saint Teresa who said she found God easily while washing dishes and cleaning the house. Yet many of us get stuck with the idea that cleaning the house and washing the dishes and ironing the clothes for the family is just plain drudgery. 

But I would suggest that a job that is well done whether it’s paid work or a clean kitchen, or kids who have been fed, can tie that drudgery of the kitchen sink to heaven. 

But it all depends on our attitude.

Cal Newport author of Study Hacks Blog writes that ‘what we choose to focus on, and what we choose to ignore defines the quality of our life.’

I suppose the same thing can be said about my work. If I choose not to focus on all the effort involved in doing something, and instead decide to think about the actual value of what I am doing - who I am doing this for, and the love I am putting into it, then this work changes me in some small way.

Of course, this is a choice that I have to make every single day, and especially for the jobs and chores that I do not like doing which are not lacking in my day. 

Just look at the changes in our lifestyle over the last few months - the endless sanitising of hands and spaces, the virtual meetings and work online and the lack of real human contact etc.etc.

I think that all of these changes can connect us to heaven when we manage to accept them first, and  try and absorb them. 

But of course, I have to believe that my work can make that difference – difference to my life, and difference to the lives of the people around me. 

It really does make a difference to meet a friendly person in the checkout counter at the supermarket or hear that encouraging voice at the other end of the phone or receive a smile from the person who is emptying the bins.  

Too often we are bullied by the media into believing that work is drudgery to navigate as quickly as we can, in order to set about the real business of life and living. This full living is having free time, tons of enjoyment, pleasure. 

Someone once wrote that ‘All work should be an act of creative love.’ When we do our work well and with love, we are participating in the creative process begun by God. 

Take time to rest too!

And remember, life is not all about work. We are told in Genesis that God rested on the seventh day. Rest is important too. It is important to regain energy for the jobs that await us in whatever form they come.

Shun those who tell you work is a drudge, that work is something to be avoided at all costs. Or with less work you will be happier. None of this is true in reality. 

Each place of work can be like a sacred space that we can offer to God when it goes well, and even more so when it's tiring, boring, dull, or seemingly fruitless.

Heaven is beside us if we want.

All it takes is the will to want.

Do you want?