What is Selfless Faith – At Work?

Greetings Dear Reader,

I must say that I miss working in an environment where following Christ was the theme of the day and open discussion of the things of God was a way of life.  But ships are not meant for harbors and the road cannot be a journey if you stay in town.

When I was first working at my current station I had a colleague who took a fancy to disliking me.  I do not know why but it was none-the-less true.  He specialized in ferreting out reasons to oppose my faith.  One of the things he did was object to my email signet.  After the close was quote from one of my favorite seventeenth century authors, Thomas Traherne.  The quote is from Centuries of Meditations.  It reads, “To think well is to serve God in the interior court.” 

This individual saw this as me imposing “religion” on him whenever I sent an email.  He confronted me about it and said that it was improper for me to have it on my company email.  I struggled internally that our director would not make me change it.  I also knew that the soul of this man mattered more to me than the signet on my email.  I looked him in the eye and told him just that.  Even though I was on my way out for the weekend I went back to my desk, logged in, changed the signet, and sent him a thank you email for pointing out the potential problem.

In that moment the tide of his dislike for me turned and we became friends.  Before he left for other ventures we had a sincere talk about things.  He knew that I truly cared for him.  He knew that he meant more to me than any of the trappings of position or poster.  He taught me that my faith had to be selfless if it was going to be seen in a “secular” environment.

I fail at this so often but it is so vital to my journey.  I must put others before myself at work.  My day must be a constant attempt to live out selfless faith in the presence of those around me.  I am immersed in the lives of others trying to change their lives for the better.  I must put my “self” behind all of this and assure that I do not forget that part of my journey is to collect fellow travelers with grace, love, and humility.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."