I have been told that I am trying to force a square peg into a round hole. In other words, others have told me that you can't force faith into the work world. The thinking is that faith and work are really two entirely separate things and that it is unrealistic to talk about the two as if they can be integrated, or as if they go together.
But I maintain that faith and work go together, naturally and beautifully. They are not from two different worlds, but I am convinced they both come from God and they should both point us back to God; ideally, they will do that together.
Consider all the faith it takes to make it in the commercial world. You study for years in school, devoting a lot of money and time to learning, all because you have faith that the market will value your acquired knowledge and reward it with work in the form of a good-paying job. There is no guarantee that a college grad will get a job; those college students are acting on faith -- even more so today as they rack up thousands of dollars in debt to do so.
The entrepreneur really acts on faith. An entrepreneur looks around and tries to figure out what society will value more than the money it has. When an entrepreneur thinks he has figured out an answer, he invests his own time and money into creating that new product or service. Then, he offers it to the world, on the faith that the world will respond. The entrepreneur does not know to what extent the public will respond, but he has faith that it will be sufficient to make his effort worthwhile.
My point is, those who succeed in business have to have faith. You have to have faith in your own ability to deliver, and you have to have faith in others to value what you have to offer, whether that be in the form of a company that hires you or in the form of the public that decides to pay for your work.
The first step to believing in God is to believe in something outside of yourself. Believing in God means believing that the world is about more than just you; it means seeing yourself accurately in the world and understanding, at least somewhat, what your role is in the world. In order to succeed in the job market, to succeed in the business world or to succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to understand others and you need to believe in others, plus you need to know yourself well enough to identify your role in the world. This understanding puts a person well on their way toward establishing a relationship with God.
Tom, I couldn't agree more, and the many of us who feel the same way appreciate the void you are filling by sharing the GEO Principle. Especially liked your bit about the entrepreneur -- would love to read more along those lines.
Keep up the important work!
Posted by: Christina | September 08, 2009 at 10:10 PM
By the way, I think the responses you get are part of the story and what makes all this so interesting. Deep down, we all yearn to integrate our values and believes into our work -- how could we not? -- but it's interesting that you're finding resistance, hesitation and fear. I think that comes from an uncertainty and the general lack of guidance on this important subject.
Posted by: Christina | September 11, 2009 at 01:45 PM