Sunday, June 22, 2014

The Power of Routine

In adult life, it may seem like we are on a never ending treadmill of work, house keeping, child care and back to sleep to start the routine all over.  Only the weekend interrupts for laundry or shopping so that we may go back to square one.
An oft lamented phrase I hear at my job is that "Life stinks . . .  it's Monday again!"
I hear phrases like this all too much at work.  On a 'Monday' everyone is sad, and by 'Friday' people are jubilant that the weekend has come; only to be back in a dour mood on Monday again.  I considered this long and hard, and realized much like Solomon, that "All is vanity"



Now, to be honest, I wish I had his wisdom, and his money, but only one of the two is profitable in this life!

The vanity I speak of is not seizing the moment of what we do in the midst of the routine.  Some view work  as a type of punishment from God due to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.  If we really look at the Biblical text, even before the fall, Adam and Eve had the job of tending to the garden to ". . . dress and keep it"  so the idea of  getting out of work for the purpose of indolence is far from our original mission as possible.

With this being said, should we not look for some value or profit in work (Proverbs 14:23)   Here is an important idea:  Can we not find something in our daily work or job that we can walk away a little wiser rather than just glad the day is over?  Routine helps.

A person may say that punching a time clock day in and day out is drudgery.  I admit that this is very true, but perhaps we are looking at the scenario all wrong!  We have a calendar year with four distinct seasons and can find something of value and worth in all of them.  Winter brings Christmas and new years, or the Superbowl season.  Spring brings better weather and Baseball, and summer brings vacation time.  We never tire of the routine of the seasons, so can we not find good in all things that we do, even if it is work?

I personally think of the work week 24 hours in advance as a plan.

  • What can I gain in experience?
  • What can I gain in understanding people
  • What can I share with others.

Routine at work gives us freedom sometimes to get lost in our thoughts and ponder life.  Too many people mull in bad experiences or what someone said in the lunch room rather in something that is good and profitable (See Philippians 4:8)

This is just my Sunday Thought

Sincerely 
Your Brother in Christ

And  Senpai in Karate 
先輩

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