Supposedly, this divide is that people 35 and over live to work. Their lives have a tendency to be job-focused and they have to intentionally teach themselves to focus first on family. Apparently, the under 35 crowd tends to work to live. In other words, one works, even enjoying their job, but their life does not revolve around a specific job or career. Family and community are more important, sometimes meaning that the job doesn't get much attention.
Now, I will be honest. I definitely do not fall into category number one. My work is not my life. I like my job, I appreciate the ministry, I find it fulfilling and important in my life. Sometimes work comes first. Sometimes, when school starts or life is rolling, I need to work 40+ hours per week. This is not the norm for me. I need time. Time with Kennan, time for myself, time to cook nourishing meals, to exercise and attempt to be healthy. I need to time to think and ponder and talk to God. Being busy is not a priority in my life.
I am not necessarily condemning people who are in the first category. Lots of people in this world have no choice but to work to live. They are forced to work and work and work because otherwise their children may starve, they could get fired, or other atrocities could happen to them.
However, as I look at my parents, who lived to work for most of their lives, I recognize some serious issues with category one. My parents are currently just working to live. They don't really like their jobs, they would rather do something else, but since their lives are devoted to this one thing they feel they don't have a choice but to make it to retirement. They have spent their adult lives feeding into this economy, but they don't have huge retirement accounts to show for it or anything. My family has lived a good life, sometimes an overabundant life, but mostly a fairly simple existence. It is only fairly recently that my parents have really branched out and purchased some more expensive and somewhat frivolous things.
My mom said something to me sometime in the last year that stopped me short. We were talking about growing up and summer adventures. I was talking about when my brother and I would stay home while my parents went to work. Offhand, my mom mentioned how the best summer of her life was when she got laid off from one job and was searching for another. She was home with us, we planted a garden, we took my dad lunch at his work site, we took a longer family vacation, and we had fun. She really loved that summer. The summer of being with her family, loving her children, and being free to be herself.
20 years later, she still sees that summer as great. Because she wasn't living to work. She was working in a different way, with a different set of rules.
There is a lot of conflict in my life because I don't live to work. For some reason, ministry is supposed to be this crossover place where you are always ready at everyone's call. You're never allowed to have time off. It is a very strange world to live in. The Christian culture seems to say that if you are not busy doing church activities and running around like a crazy person that you are not living the life you were called to live. Are quiet lives not acceptable? The whole concept is so completely white and western.
This conflict in society might just be an extremely big deal that has gone unnoticed. What does it mean for my life? Do you find this true in your life?
And what would God say about this whole situation? I just don't know.
3 comments:
Well, as we all know, God said something about the importance of a Sabbath. And of course, Jesus' words to "Be still." It is ironic that within all "jobs", it seems to be that if a person is busier and has more on their plate, they are more respected because "they can handle it." but the truth is that we all have a breaking point. and during my recent job struggles, i can identify with a lot of what you said. i really want to talk to you about stuff- i'll try & make it happen sometime soon :) anyway, as far as my "moral outcome" goes, i would rather spend my last day on earth sitting around a table with loved ones, rather than sitting behind a desk because of the paycheck. sometimes it doesn't always work that way, and as we all know we need to have that paycheck to be able to sit around the table, but its all about finding balance. and thats where the hierarchy of priorities comes in.
Vocare.
Sorry, I couldn't help myself. As I've been struggling with the whole 'thesis' thing, I've been thinking about how important it is to me to have time to do things I like besides work. And yet I do like to work, but yeah, that's not all there is to life--at least not in a 'career' sense. But I suppose there are cultural values and cultural shifts at work in this generational shift.
And while we're on the subject, maybe we should attack the great underpinning of our society--the Protestant work ethic. We know who's going to heaven by who's doing the most work. And I suppose it doesn't help that people constantly refer to living as though Jesus will return tomorrow as justification for getting busy. Not that getting busy preparing is a bad thing.
Finally, perhaps some people live to work because they get used to working. Perhaps they didn't mean to. They just started working, and soon it was what they knew and understood, and well, they woke up and discovered they thought were too old to make a new decision and kept on working. But also, I suppose when you're told that what you do and how you make money defines who you are, it's hard to think another way.
Clarissa - you are so right about the Protestant work ethic. It drives me crazy, actually. The problem is - that work ethic isn't about Jesus at all anymore (if it ever was). Now it just seems to be about being busy for no reason other than to say that you are busy. Interesting.
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