At school on Friday our Campus Minister sent out the following message from Pope Francis...
Responding to the question, “Do we need to rediscover the meaning of leisure?” Pope Francis replies: “Together with a culture of work, there must be a culture of leisure as gratification. To put it another way: people who work must take the time to relax, to be with their families, to enjoy themselves, read, listen to music, play a sport. But this is being destroyed, in large part, by the elimination of the Sabbath rest day. More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.” In such cases, he concludes, “work ends up dehumanizing people.”
What a perfect message to roll into the Labor Day weekend! My goal for this school year is the exact opposite of what some people might say it should be, but it is to leave school early and bring my work home. Though it might seem as though bringing work home would take away from family time, it actually means the exact opposite. When I can leave work and get the girls early from school we have a more relaxed evening ahead of us. There is no longer a rush to get homework done, get dinner on the table, get our evening activities underway, etc. We can enjoy each others company. We can take our time getting to the tasks that "need done." We are happier in getting these tasks done so, in turn, they take less time and less struggle to accomplish. We have time to enjoy playing a game, playing outside, or snuggling up for some book/TV time. Once we have had a chance to relax with each other, it no longer seems quite the burden to pick up that stack of papers and finish the grading or planning that I didn't get accomplished while I was at work. It also affords me the opportunity at school to surround myself with the positive people whom I can learn from instead of the "Debbie Downers" that we all know we can run into from time to time in our jobs. If I'm leaving work earlier, there is less of a chance of getting cornered into these situations that test my patience and put me on edge.
So far my progress in leaving early from work has been pretty average. However, I'm thankful for little signs like this message in my inbox last Friday that remind me that I am making the right decision to spend less time at work. Wishing you the most relaxing of Labor Days. I'll be at the lake, enjoying my family, ignoring my work, and counting my blessings.
No comments:
Post a Comment