Issue 370
Discovering The Therapy of Work
When Joseph was 17 years old, he had a dream that his father and brothers would bow down to him. As a result of that dream, his brothers treated him terribly and then lied to their father. Joseph experienced nearly 15 years of injustice as a direct result of his brothers’ reaction to his dream.
During those 15 awful years, Joseph was a slave and a prisoner, working long hours for no pay and little comfort. It was an agonising ‘in between’ time and there must have been occasions when he really struggled to understand what was going on. He was slandered, abused, used and forgotten, and needed all his strength to carry on.
There was one stream of life in which he found his path: of course he was faithful to God and seemed to find reasons for hope under terrible circumstances, but Joseph’s expression of faith during this dream-initiated ‘in between’ ime was his conscientious work ethic. Everywhere he went, he did his job well: in Potiphar’s house he was a professional, upright estate manager; in prison he became a supervisor over other prisoners. Joseph’s work-style was his therapy, his sanity, and in the end, his passport to success; it was his work that earned him a place in the national government and gave him the route to the fulfilment of his dreams; it was his career path that enabled him to confront his family damage and the toxic behaviour of his brothers.
Many of you reading this piece will recognise only too well some of its themes. At around 17 years of age, lots of us carry a dream, an ambition or a hope; similarly, life can be unjust, unfair and damaging both in family and work context. Surely one key feature of Joseph’s story is that his conscientious, uncompromising, honourable and hard working approach to his job opportunities paved the path to dream fulfillment and family reintegration. Perhaps this year is a good time to choose working hard and well as a redemptive path, all the time recognising the inner work of God as your source of progress; so in 2011 work well.
Genesis 45:1-3
1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
In preparation for the next GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly, do feel free to email us your thoughts to wtw@worktalk.gs or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter profile. You can also visit our YouTube channel - get inspired and share Worktalk's vision with others.
Work well
Geoff Shattock
© Copyright 2024 Geoff Shattock
All GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly archives are for personal use only. For permission to use for any other purposes please email using the address below thank you.
WORKTALK LEARNING
1 Washington Villas, Hythe Road, Marchwood, Southampton, Hampshire, SO40 4WT United Kingdom
T:+44 (0)23 8086 8543
http://www.geoffshattock.com
comms@worktalk.gs
