Work is love made visible

Yeah yeah- it may sound corny and overoptimistic, but how many times don’t we complain or listen to others’ complaints about their work and jobs.

No- I won’t make it worse by reminding you how grateful you should be to have a job either. I’m more on about the contention that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. That dreaded extra task you’ve kindly been asked to complete or that extra hour you had to put in.

Unfortunately yes- and granted… not all of us are in fulfilling positions where we get to do what we love doing. For many though it’s just about that paycheque and doing what needs to be done. Yet with a slight change in perspective, I think we can learn to love what we do… whatever that task may be. For however small and menial it may seem to you… it still forms a part of the bigger picture we’re all connected to. When we work with a curse and hatred for what we do, we poison the fruit of those labours.

A simple example, I’ve been going to this particular car wash for years- besides the fact that they do a brilliant job- I love watching Peter in action and am always amazed at the effort and pride he takes in his work, taking care with every little detail. It’s as if every car he washes might well have been his own.

I too, I confess, get discouraged from time to time and the words of one of my favorite authors remind me of the value in every little thing I do. From the all time classic, The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran advises… “Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy”.

Everything you do makes a difference.

(Pic: http://is.gd/gqZdy)