The Secret to Job Satisfaction

"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

I'm not a philosopher.  In fact, in high school, my English teacher and my classmates actually said that I was rather shallow--a trait I proudly owned.  Why would I want to be "deep" and read meaning into everything?  What can I say, I'm literalistic and want to take things at their face value.  Maybe that's why I've always gotten along well with guys.  You don't have to be deep to understand what they like...

Anyway, I digress.  I just want you to know where I'm coming from when I say that I've been pondering the concept of "work" lately.  This may not be deep and philosophical.  But I think it makes sense.

Work seems to have different meanings to different people.  For some, it's a means to an end--a way to get a pay check.  And for others, work seems to be a reflection of self.  These people think that they are defined by what they do for a living. For these people, success and satisfaction at work are crucial for their happiness.  Thus, when things go poorly at work, they become miserable people. 

As a means to an end worker, I haven't struggled as much with the concept of workplace satisfaction.  But as a law school graduate and friend of people employed in many sectors of the workforce, I've been saddened by the unhappiness of those who have become miserable because of their jobs.  Please don't waste your misery on your job.

Workers can blame the economy, the weather, the job market, their education or lack thereof for how much they love or hate their jobs.  But the fact of the matter is that work isn't supposed to be fun.  If it were, we probably wouldn't get paid to do it.  Work is going to require some amount of personal sacrifice via physical labor, skills, or special knowledge.  It's also going to require a willingness to put up with other personalities.  Work does not, however, require anyone to be miserable.  Come on now, we've all seen happy janitors, right?

Solomon reminds us in Ecclesiastes that we can be miserable and allow our work to be meaningless repetition aimed at accumulating material wealth.  We can allow ourselves to be defined by what we do and how well we do it.  Or, we can find satisfaction in our work and strive to please God. In the end, the person who pleases God will get wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.  And the materialist will just get accumulated wealth, which will be passed on to someone else after the materialist dies.

Solomon says that it is possible to have job satisfaction. God, and only God, can help us find enjoyment in what we do.  That means that whatever career a person pursues can pretty much stink apart from God.  Even if you have the coolest or highest paying job in the world, you can be miserable if you don't have true job satisfaction from God.

When we're working, it's easy to get frustrated by the daily annoyances that accompany a job.  But we should never be discouraged.  God offers us the ability to be satisfied with what we do and with whom we work.  We just have to seek to please Him and seek our enjoyment from Him and not from the workplace.  So stop allowing the work place to define you. Instead, seek true happiness that can only come from God. Start by reading the book of Romans in the New Testament.  When you see and accept what God offers you, it's hard to be a miserable person--regardless of your job.  And who knows, maybe when you start to dwell on your blessings, your job won't be so bad.