work work work
puppy employment laws don't exist
I love my job for a lot of reasons, but I especially love the specific church where I work because of the flexibility it allows me and the fact that I can bring Rocco into the office.
Initially, bringing the puppy to work was a little rough. There were a few accidents. He escaped quite a few times, completely disrespecting the tasteful baby gate I had set up in my office door. There was even one time that he JUMPED UP ON MY DESK, which I naturally had to photograph. Then, he got spooked and jumped down, taking everything on my desk with him.
Now, though, we know what we’re doing. About once a week I take Rocco to daycare to get his energy out so that he’ll be chill at work the other days. As you can see in the picture above, we no longer use the baby gate; he has a galvanized steel lead that is attached to my desk. No more accidents. When I leave the office, he lies down and waits for me to come back. We have a good thing going.
A few months ago, someone came into my office to say hi to Rocco and commented that they wouldn’t get any work done if they were allowed to bring their dog to work. While certainly Rocco might distract me when he needs to go out or when his little head pops up for a pet, but mostly Rocco actually helps me to work more.
As someone with PTSD, if I don’t feel safe, I quite literally cannot do anything else. This little goober helps me to be able to do my work and, ultimately, to help facilitate encounters with Jesus. That’s a pretty awesome thing.
The dignity of work is something that the Catholic Church has always held from the beginning. After all, Jesus worked when he became human. We see it as a participation in the creative work of God, who rested on the seventh day. Work is a great privilege.
Something interesting has been happening recently, though. People have been quitting their jobs. In November 2021, 4.5 million people quit their jobs, which was a record number.
Certainly, some of these people quit their jobs because they were tired of subpar working conditions (something that the Catholic Church also maintains, the dignity of workers). But it seems to be that the main trend is that people are quitting their job to do something more meaningful. This means they may be going back to school or switching career fields altogether.
Simply put, people are tired of spending their lives doing something that feels meaningless.
Last week (and part of why it’s been a little while since I’ve sent a real newsletter), I taught our Confirmation class about learning how to hear the voice of God, something that we call the discernment of spirits. This idea of doing something meaningful is absolutely crucial to the discernment of spirits.
Because, you see, God gives our lives meaning. And he wants our work to be a reflection of Him. For some people, working in service industries actually gives them life and gives their lives meaning. For others, it’s farming and that’s why they wake up at 4am every day. For others it’s office jobs and paper pushing, for some it’s teaching or ministry or healthcare or collecting garbage. I once met someone who was honestly in love with her job as a toll collector.
Even as I type that list, I notice the similarity to St. Paul’s writing about the gifts of people in the Church:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
The question left to us is: will we trust God? Will we allow him to give our lives meaning, or will we stay in a place where we feel out souls being sucked out of our bodies?
Trusting God to make major life decisions is no cake-walk, believe me. But the more we trust Him, the closer we get to heaven on earth, to living in His light. And there’s nothing better than that.
A few things before you go:
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This newsletter is an affiliate with Sock Religious! I always get compliments when I wear this t-shirt that has the Eucharist AND Iggy lyrics on it.
Rocco’s book club is underway! If you’re interested in the next book club, it will be on this Friday, February 4th, at 8pm EST on Zoom. The book is The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley and reading it is highly recommended but not required. For more info on joining the book club, read this post.