Finding God at Work 23: Giving the Gift of the True Self
What can nursing mothers teach us about life with God in the workplace?
In our work relationships, we have the opportunity to give the gift of ourselves to others. The Apostle Paul uses the image of nursing to describe this kind of gift of the self: "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. . . . we were ready to share with you . . . our own selves" (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV). It's a self-giving love.
That self-giving has been God's design from the beginning. In the Genesis account of creation, we see Adam and Eve engaged in work as their true selves. They were naked and were not ashamed: Their bodies said something meaningful about God. They were images of his love.
So, too, for us: Our bodies have a meaning that points beyond ourselves to the self-giving love of God. Work is one of the primary contexts God gives us for expressing that meaning. Your everyday work is where you give the gift of yourself to other people. That's what shows them something about who God really is.
Sources: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 (ESV)
Michael Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966).
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