One Benedictine described labor as a “call to awareness and mindfulness.” They wrote, Work can express our relationship with the world around us. As such it will not always be rewarding, just as life isn’t. But if I believe [work] can be no more than instrumental (paying bills), I will never notice what else it could be. If I simplistically equate self-satisfaction with work’s value, I’ll miss what else work, even tedious work, can yield. Conversely, looking for deeper dimensions in work may motivate me not to be exploited on the job, not to over-work, not to reduce my life to how much I can
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