Day 20: Enough and the American Dream aren't friends. { pt. 1 }

There's this message floating around the workplace. It's a message so subtle that it's easy to buy into without even knowing what you're subscribing to. It's not implicitly stated. Though it is powerfully real. 

It makes me sad. 

It's a message coming from the belief that hard work is the ultimate virtue. 

Outwork everyone. 

40 hours is a minimum. 

Time off is never an option for success. 

Home life can never stand in the way of professional life. 

Now don't get me wrong. I'm all for hard work and purpose and productivity. It's no accident that one of the first conversations the Creator had with Adam and Eve was to assign them a job in the Garden. Work is built into human DNA. This way among multiple others is what makes us like the Creator Himself. 

BUT. We were created for rest and for pleasure and for relationship too. For dancing, for eating pie and sipping strong coffee, for laughter, for snuggling. These are equally valuable parts of being human. Life requires a delicate balance between each. 

This workplace message is the foundation for the American Dream: hard work, independence, autonomy and grit. And those things are good. I am thankful for our founders' work on our behalf. I am thankful for freedom and opportunity. 

But WHEN, oh when did the American Dream become the ultimate goal? When did this become our object of worship? If work becomes our identity, we miss the big picture. We fall terribly short. 

The result of this message of the American Dream has been troubling-workaholism, perfectionism, families with 1.5 parents, and dried up, crumbling personal lives. Sure, your career is successful. You will make some good money. You will feel powerful. But at what cost? 

Is this the abundantly more life that we were created for? Surely not. 

The message of Enough touches this area of our culture. It floats into the workplace, subtle like the message of workaholism, though it's available to those who will hear it. Enough marches to a different beat and sings a different tune: 

Work hard, but remember who you really work for. 

Do things with excellence, but know when to stop. 

Perfectionism is a losing game. 

You are not your work. Remember what is truly important. 

Set boundaries, go home for dinner, Kiss your wife, play with your kids. 

And so we get up, go to work and the messages of enough and the American dream go to war within us. We get to choose which one wins. 

I pray that believers will rise up as first class employees, business owners, doctors and professionals. But may we model something different in the workplace- something balanced and healthy and whole- the message of enough.