Elder, many, when they return home from work, are very irritableStress and the Sanctification of work
Elder, many, when they return home from work, are very irritable
I always advise people, after work, if they find a Church open, to enter and light a candle and spend 10 or 15 minutes in the Church, or pass by a park and spend some quiet time reading an excerpt from the Bible. Thus, they will return home peaceful and smiling, not irritated and ready for an altercation. People should not transfer their work problems to their home environment. They should leave them outside the door.
But elder, some people can’t help it. They have great responsibility at work, and it fills them with stress.
It makes them stressed because they do not include God in their situations. The lazy person who says, “It doesn’t matter, God will provide” is better than them. I prefer for somebody to be a simple employee, doing his job honourably and correctly, but keeping his life simple and his head clear, rather than be an executive and to be continuously stressing about this or that major issue or problem. Then, vanity also comes into play and one wants more and more until they start to take unnecessary risks.
Others, in their work, do not use their brains and tire themselves needlessly without seeing any results for their efforts. They cannot cope and this leads them to stress. For example, somebody wants to learn a skill, but because he does not pay attention, it takes him years, without making any progress because he does not put his mind to the task he is trying to accomplish.
One must see what is needed in his job and learn skills that directly apply to what he wants to do. For example, when I was working in the world as a carpenter, I saw that for the furniture I was making, I needed a lathe. Was I going to get somebody else to make it for me? I got myself a lathe and learned how to use it. I then saw it was necessary to learn how to make circular staircases. I sat, remembered my geometry and my arithmetic and learned how to make them.
If you do not put your mind to your work, you will not be able to get things done. I want to emphasise to you how important it is to use your brains. During work, a whole host of new situations will arise that must be dealt with. That is how people become skilled and efficient workers. Put your mind to problem solving. Otherwise, you will remain undisciplined and will waste your time.
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Every person should sanctify their work and themselves, with their prayer and their way of life. If you are an employer with responsibility, you can help your employees spiritually as well. When one has a good spiritual state, he sanctifies his work. When, for example, young people go to a tradesman to learn a trade, the tradesmen should also be helping his apprentices to learn how to live spiritually. This will benefit everyone, because God will bless his work.
Every profession and trade can be sanctified. A doctor, for example, must not forget that in medical practice, one factor that helps a great deal is the Grace of God. Therefore, he must try to be a vessel of Divine Grace. The doctor who is a good Christian, along with his medical knowledge, helps his patience by his kindness and his faith, because he gives them the courage to face their illness with faith. When a patient is seriously ill, he can tell them, “Medical science goes up to here. From here on, however, God exists, who can do miracles.”
Teachers must try to fulfill their teaching duties with joy and help their students to be reborn spiritually, which parents do not always have the ability to do, even if they want to. In parallel with the curriculum content the children are taught, they must be taught to be good people. Otherwise, how will education benefit them?
Society has need of good people, who will carry out the duties of their occupations conscientiously. The teacher must not only reward students who know the lesson content well, but also look for other qualities in students, such as kindness, sincerity, respect and diligence. God’s grades do not always correspond to the grades given by teachers. It may be that the 4/10 that one child receives is a 10/10 in God’s eyes, while the 10/10 of another student is a 4/10 for God.
Γέροντος Παισίου Αγιορείτου Λόγοι Δ Οικογενειακή Ζωή σελ 172-174