(Please read in a Kevin the Teenager voice).
Aren’t Sundays wonderful? The anticipation of a restful day, a choice of three church services to attend, the children keen to go to their own activities. A feeling of peace and calm descends on the family. Our spiritual life is on full-throttle; the trials and tribulations of the past week have faded into distant memories. Sundays are Different. Sundays are Great. Sundays are for God and our relationship with him. Exodus 20:28 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”.
So why do Mondays have to come along and spoil things?
I’m lucky –God has blessed me with a job I enjoy. I’ve been a consultant in IT for the past 13 years, and have had the privilege of working with clients in a whole variety of businesses. My specialism is in Programme Delivery Assurance, and the client I’m currently working with has given me exposure to the transport sector, which is a whole new area for me. I think I’m pretty good at what I do (I must be, otherwise people wouldn’t hire me and re-hire me) and it’s not a chore. All in all, I feel blessed that I’m able to use the skills and experience God has given me in order to support my family and give back to him through the Church. I’m pretty well in tune with Colossians 3:22-25.
Getting to work, though, is the part I dislike enormously. Try as I may, I’m failing to see God’s glory on the 0719 to Waterloo, or on a crowded London Underground train. Today was extra-busy due to the wet weather, and I had the pleasure of someone’s armpit a few inches from my face most of the way. I reckon I’m just getting too old for the rat-race. Especially when it takes up nearly four hours a day, every day.
So today especially, I’m considering what changes are afoot. Whilst I can take occasional advantage of remote working with my current client, they’re not particularly keen (they’re a transport company, after all…). With God’s blessing, I hope to transition to a more amenable work pattern. I need to establish a network of clients for whom I can work mostly remotely, and gear myself up for full-time home working whilst remaining sensitive to everyone’s needs. This should free me from the rat-race, give me more time for the family and allow me to get more involved with Church and the community.
Whilst God is with me throughout the day whatever day of the week, I crave the space to be able to respond to him. These changes, with the support and prayers of those around me, will mean that Mondays can become less of a shock to the system and every day can be a bit more like Sunday.
Amen to that, Peter; a sentiment no doubt echoed via much of the rat-rate fraternity on that 0719.
ReplyDeleteWith you, for you and in partnership with you, I too pray for the time when you can slowly untether the strings of being London-bound, and find a pathway to balance both needs of work and life, with the strain of the former lessening as the enjoyment and the fulfilment of the latter grows!