Hey, Cobblestone,
Of all the myths we could choose to bust, this is the one I
want to poke on today: the myth of work/life balance. For a few letters now,
we’ve been considering the nature of work. We’ve seen that work is not a
consequence of sin: the first two humans had great jobs before sin even became
a thing. We’ve seen that work is not a curse: humans still prosper by working.
We’ve also seen that – however many bosses we’ve had, good or bad – we
ultimately work for the King of all creation. In this letter, I hope to undo
the idea that work and life are mutually exclusive.
Get a visual with me: an old-fashioned scale. There’s a
vertical part, a horizontal part that pivots, with a pan hanging from each end.
When items of equal weight are placed in the pans, the horizontal part is level
– the items are balanced. All is good, until something – anything at all –
lands on one pan and not the other. The top part goes a little sideways… or a
lot sideways.
Now imagine Work in one pan and Life in the other. How do we
keep the top part from going sideways? We could add from the Work pile and the
Life pile in equal amounts at the exact same time. Good luck with that. I can
add from one pile, but as soon as I turn to grab from the other, the whole
thing goes wonky. Am I telling the truth?
Now throw away the whole scale metaphor, and let’s go with
another:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I
am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus speaking).
Literally, a yoke is the beam of wood connecting two draft
animals – maybe oxen – so that their pulling efforts can be combined.
Metaphorically, to take on the “yoke” of a rabbi (teacher) meant to submit to
his teaching. Jesus uses the literal and the metaphorical in harmony: The rest
that he’s offering is not the end of working; if there were no more work to do,
he wouldn’t be talking about a yoke. Jesus integrates work and rest – Work and
Life – rather than separating them.
Somewhere in my going-to-church memory, I heard a preacher
give an illustration that involved a fellow out for a morning walk. The walker
went past a site where a cathedral was being built, and spoke to three
bricklayers in turn:
“Good morning, sir! What are you doing?”
“Mister, I’m just puttin’ one brick on top of another.”
He walked on and addressed the second: “Good morning, sir!
What are you doing?”
“I’m working this job to put food on the table for my
family.”
The third bricklayer got the same greeting: “Good morning,
sir! What are you doing?”
“I’m building a great cathedral where the faithful will come
and worship God!”
In the preacher’s illustration, the idea was to promote the
third response as the only one worthwhile. But I would contend that all three
responses are solid. 1) Brick walls don’t go together all at once; somebody has
to put one brick on top of another. 2) Trading work for money is not a bad gig
when it provides for one’s family. 3) Keeping the end goal in view brings
satisfaction in the present.
I’ve punched enough time cards to know that the division
between work and life is not entirely artificial. I’ve had more than one boss
who, in effect, has said, “Your heart may belong to Jesus, but on the clock,
your *** belongs to me!” We’ve all had plenty of those days when, if work
follows us home, there will be no life. The question, then, is this: Why try to
balance two things we’ve determined to be mutually exclusive?
Jesus offers a better way. Look again at the Scripture and
tell me: Does Jesus mention taking the yoke off? Indeed, putting the yoke on
brings rest – and not just plain ol’ rest, but rest for the soul. It’s an odd
concept, but it’s worth sticking with. Jesus isn’t offering another
thing; he’s offering a different thing, and that’ll take some time to
see.
He offers integration over separation. It’s like all three
bricklayers’ responses rolled into one: the wall goes up; the paycheck is
earned; the cathedral gets finished. At the same time, life goes on and
provision is made for worship and play. And whoever said worship and play can’t
go to the jobsite? Certainly not Jesus. Integration erases the need for
balance. And since balance is unattainable anyway, this should be happy news!
It starts with three of the most beautiful words in Scripture:
“Come to me…”
With only a natural view of work, we will consistently fall
for joy-killing ideas like “My work means nothing,” or “They’re not paying me
what I’m worth.” But on the force of Jesus’ invitation – “Come to me…” –
we can begin to see kingdom significance in everything we do, since Jesus is
able to point it out to us. There’s further encouragement at the end of
1Corinthians, chapter 15:
…knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (verse 58).
He’s not Jesus, but the poet Robert Frost assembled some
words that lean toward the integration Jesus offers…
But yield who will to their separation
My goal in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future’s sakes.
Having watched several episodes of Mythbusters with my
grandson Austin, I know that some of their projects are more useful than
others. If I’m driving a convertible and get caught in the rain with the top
down, I could go faster and get a little less wet – or I could pull
over, put the top up, and get a lot less wet. Oh, but the episode on the
exploding water heater… I was paying close attention then! Knowing how to keep
your water heater from exploding is mighty useful, but busting the myth of
work/life balance has a far broader application. “Call the man, Aunt Bea,” if
you don’t know how to make the water heater safe. For integrating work and
life, definitely come to Jesus.
Grace and Peace (in work and play, play and work),
John
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