The height of the summer heat is about to start fading (nooooo!!!!). The end of summer and some freedom with lower lockdown levels have meant more time for outdoor activities. I have walked into a couple of spider webs over the past few weeks (not cool). Spider webs have been quite prominent this summer and sparking my admiration for their craftsmanship in more detail.
Spiders are remarkable creatures creating elaborate and complex webs that conform to angular symmetry and precise degrees. The webs are constructed regularly. Within record time, the average spider spins a new web every day in about one hour. The webs are strategically placed and quite resistant to water damage. The nets are shiny and exquisite tools for trapping their food, but many spiders go further and decorate their webs.
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| Shot this spider web at a family get-together, 13 March 2021 |
Going to work every day can be challenging and sometimes even feel like a punishment handed down to Adam and Eve after the fall. But that is far from the truth. I recently attended a three-day spiritual retreat. In a talk, it was pointed out that God entrusted us to cultivate and care for his garden from the beginning (that is, before the first sin was committed). If you still do not believe me? Here is some proof, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it" (Genesis, 2:15). That is amazing, is it not?! God created me to take care of his creation, and when I cooperate with his plan, I participate in co-creating in this world.
My grandfather (on my Dad's side) was a carpenter. Carpenters are problem solvers needing to find solutions to construction problems or cutting precise angles to ensure two pieces of wood are precisely butted together. The skill is an age-old one, and we know that St. Joseph taught Jesus to work with his hands in this trade. Jesus spent most of his adolescent life on earth working (assuming he worked from age 18 to 30) and only teaching the people for the last three years of his life (age 30 to 33). That meant Jesus dealt with demanding customers who would try to undercut his family business. Jesus would have to safeguard the tools he and St. Joseph used from neighbourhood thieves. There would also be times when there were not enough orders to pay the rent.
Although Jesus is God, he learned his skill from his father on earth. St. Joseph, the patron saint of workers, teaches us that our daily routine of going to the same job can lead us to heaven if done well and for God. Yup that means whatever your profession, skilled or unskilled, doing your job well and offered to God is something that can lead you to heaven. Gardeners, bankers, politicians, teachers, fathers, and mothers can all be saints through their daily work. "Sanctity is not for a privileged few. The Lord calls all of us. He expects love from all of us—from everyone, wherever they are; from everyone, whatever their state in life, their profession or job." (St. Josemaria).
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| Spider on its translucent web at Ducks Dam Hall, 6 March 2021 |
Three months into the year, the positive momentum we start the year out with begins to fade, and maybe you are even counting the months to December? However, in the month of St. Joseph the Worker, it is an excellent time for us to reflect on the idea of seeing our daily work as an opportunity to reach holiness. Our (not so) friendly spiders have a lesson or two on how to get this right.
Lesson 1. Every day is a new beginning (spiders build new webs almost every day)
Each day we are given a new set of silk. All the tasks we are given, even the worst ones like admin, sitting in long meetings, dealing with difficult people, or figuring out solutions to complex problems. Whether your work entails working with your hands, sitting behind a computer all day long, or caring for patients are all opportunities to offer these tasks to God. For example, I could offer my days labour for a family member's problem or in thanksgiving for a promotion.
Those familiar words from Mass, "Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you: the fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life." Whatever you deal with, our small and daily sufferings can all be united to Jesus on the cross through working to unite our sufferings to Christ. In the Mass, Our Lord can perfect and redeem our offerings of work and struggle and transform them on our behalf.
Lesson 2. Work hard to provide for others (spiders webs are often destroyed, but spiders never give up)
A job can be rewarding, but it can also test your patience and tolerance levels. We work to provide for our families to give them a modest and comfortable home, food on the table, and provide a good education. A spider web is a home, food trap, and shelter to raise its offspring. When we work with the attitude to care for our family, support a charity, or the less fortunate. This attitude enables us to see the daily challenges of work as something with a purpose.
Lesson 3. Be the change you want to see (spiders webs vs. cobwebs)
A spider web refers to a clean web actively in use, while cobwebs are dusty, old, and abandoned webs that serve no purpose other than to collect old leaves. Shabby, sloppy, and half-hearted work has no value to be offered to God! My boss might not see the small details I omit or the quick short-cuts I took in carrying out a task, but God sees the little details.
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| Old cobweb at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden, 20 February 2021 |
Suppose we want to sanctify our work (offer it to God as a pleasing sacrifice). In that case, we need to do it as if Jesus were beside you, overseeing every detail. First, the result of work done well and with the right intention in mind has an interior impact on your soul. Why? Because God created us from the beginning to care and cultivate for all of his creation. Second, the attitude is contagious and will soon spill over to those around you. Through your example, you may help others discover the value of working for God.
"Missions are powerful because they focus your energy towards a useful goal, and this in turn maximises your impact on your world – a crucial factor in loving what you do. People who feel like their careers truly matter are more satisfied with their working lives, and they're also more resistant to the strain of hard work." (Cal Newport extract from the book So Good They Can't Ignore You)
I encourage you to try and discover the redeeming value of your daily and monotonous job. When you discover it, you will begin to see how Christ has been waiting for you all along to cooperate in God's plan to reach your heavenly destiny.
"To realise one's destiny is a person's only obligation" (Paulo Coelho)
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