Directive # 4

An interesting dilemma sets before me.

I have a job opportunity with a fantastic company—one I’d been considering for years as an ideal place to work, even back when I had a lucrative position in a large, international entity. This business that brought me on board on a temporary basis has always struck me as having a great sense of customer service and as a place where people appear genuinely happy working there.

And I consider it an honor and a blessing to have been given this opportunity to work for them…it’s not an easy gig to land. And the respect I have for this company is why this dilemma exists. If I didn’t really care about this organization and what it’s represented for me, there would be no issue; but if that were the case, it’s not as likely that I would have sought employment there.

What makes this a dilemma, then, is that for anyone working on a part-time basis—which obviously includes the temps seeking a permanent position, but a large portion of the rest of the company as well—they have to commit to one unrestricted day every weekend during which the company can schedule them at any point of the day. And, again, with all due respect to the company, I understand why they require this, and under different circumstances, this would not be a dilemma for me.

My problem has to do with which day of each weekend to commit, and it has to be the same day every weekend, Saturday or Sunday. My other job, which is permanent with another company I have a great deal of respect for, calls for an early morning shift five days a week, including Saturday, that usually ends around 7 or 7:30 in the morning. I obviously can’t approach my manager at that job and say that I can no longer work Saturdays. So this leaves Sunday as the only day I can commit, on an unrestricted basis, to this new opportunity.

Sunday—the day that best energizes me into the new week… The day of the week when I am most able to renew my focus on what is most critically important in life. And I can do this along with a number of other like-minded people with whom I’ve formed a spiritual bond. These are individuals with whom I feel kindred spirit—I care a great deal for these people, like brothers and sisters, and they have expressed their care and concern for me and mine in profound ways.

Is this new opportunity important enough to me to sacrifice this particular day of the week for it without restriction? It’s already clear that the early part of this day—the critical part where this renewed focus, this re-energizing and inspiration is most potent—will almost always be when I would be scheduled.

Those of us who have ever been part of a Christian community have inevitably had exposure to the Ten Commandments. These are the mandates given by God through Moses to the Hebrews as they roamed the wilderness, still in flight from their enslavement in Egypt. These commandments are still upheld as the principles designed to help us focus on our relationships, both with God and with all people, in an appropriate and fulfilling manner.

While these Commandments are often followed dogmatically or moralistically, this approach tends to miss the divine intent, which Christ provides insight on in his assertion that by loving God completely and loving our neighbors as ourselves, this already satisfies the legalistic aspects of religion; but more importantly, it offers a simplified, spirit-based perspective on life and our relationships that cannot get bogged down by ethics or dogma. I have grown up with these commandments and had initially understood them from that moralistic standpoint, but have come to embrace them from a deeper, more fulfilling spiritual basis.

Directive #4: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. This commandment is perhaps the least understood of the ten in our current culture. It’s often given lip service, but not fully considered, either seen as being archaic—irrelevant in today’s culture—or as providing the inappropriate foundation to ‘guilt’ people into going to church.

From a more spiritually-fulfilling point of view, the idea behind this directive is that in order to fully appreciate life and all of its blessings, it’s best to take the time to rest from the routine that defines the rest of the week, and to focus more than usual on those relationships that are most critically important in our lives. For those of us who believe, this would obviously include God, but also includes the people closest to us—our kids, our significant others, our friends,…and of course, our selves, lest we forget.

Now whether one’s ‘Sabbath’ means Sunday, as it does in modern Christian culture, or Saturday, as it meant in biblical times, or Thursday or half of Saturday into Sunday...none of this matters nearly so much as taking that time to focus, to center one’s self, to re-energize, to re-create, to be inspired, to be revitalized in a context of gratitude and purpose. The critical point is that we all need to take time, consistently, to do the kinds of things that will help us re-prioritize the most important things in our lives—the blessings we have, the ultimate Provider of those blessings, and how we can best take care of those blessings. This is what “the Sabbath” is all about!

The sad reality is that most of us do not take much of any time to focus on what’s right and good in our lives. We’re wired in our human nature to focus on what’s wrong with our lives, what’s lacking,… And then much of the time we do take apart from our normal obligations is often cluttered with activities that are essentially meaningless…time-warp type behaviors that act as a vacuum of the mind and spirit. Discipline is necessary to take time to truly renew ourselves and to develop and maintain a positive perspective that can propel us into each new week. This is where carving out a consistent time, like a ‘Sabbath’ for instance, is incredibly helpful.

So when someone or some organization is making demands on that time I know I need, well, yes, I am very protective of it. I think it through. How would it impact me and those closest to me if I had to give that up? How would it affect my work through each week? How could this affect my spirit? Is there a chance I can consider a different time as my ‘Sabbath’?

Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Keep an eye on your time and how valuable it is. Be mindful of how you spend your time and whether or not it meets your priorities. If you see your time as sacred, then live your life that way, ‘cause once the time has passed you by, you ain’t gonna git it back!

So the dilemma… Decisions like this should not be made quickly or lightly. I seek advice and try to remain open to all concerned perspectives, and I feel a day closer to that final decision on this. Clearly, though, it’s only by taking the time to grapple with this dilemma that I can truly appreciate both this employment opportunity and the journey in faith as the blessings both of them are.