Today’s question: HOW DOES YOUR WORK SERVE OTHERS?
This is Day 21 of the 5-week Lenten journey with The Society of Saint John the Evangelist and their daily meditation on TIME.
See Br. Luke Ditewig on the video (2:15) below, or to leave comments on the Brothers' website, go here. (http://ssje.org/ssje/2015/03/09/work-3-return)
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Question: HOW DOES YOUR WORK SERVE OTHERS?
Transcript of Video:
To be loving in work is to provide a place that’s safe for others, where they feel accepted. And I can most do that when I feel safe and accepted. So it’s part about balance, in terms of when do I stop that I am then able to provide something for someone else. And part of our whole cycle of prayer is to come back to: I am a beloved child of God. I need rest. I need to be reminded of who I am. And I need to sit at the wellspring and be filled up and receive the good news, that I can then share a cup of water with someone else. But I have to drink that water myself.
So part of our monastic rhythm is to keep coming back to we, ourselves – or part of coming to prayer is also knowing my own need. I need to come to God for my own replenishment, for my own sustenance. So both coming to the table at the Eucharist and prayer throughout the day, is part of sustaining me. And then I think all that work is then sharing that with others. And whatever it is that we do, whether it’s literally hosting guests or whatever our work may be, the way we interact with objects for someone’s use or the way we interact with people comes out of our own experience of love and belonging. So nourishing that, ourselves, then enables us to love others.
-Br. Luke Ditewig
Blessings on our journey to re-order time in our lives,
Agatha