A Perspective On Livelihood

As a birthday gift, I gave my 3 year old son, Sev, a ukulele. He loves it so much. He brings his ukulele everywhere. In the office, in the mall, in the sala, in the bedroom, you name it. He does his best to sing worship songs. His favorites so far are 'Worship the Lord' and 'How Great is our God.' He strums and strums and sings his heart out. He is so happy playing his ukelele. He even made a song called, 'Hippopotamus.' During Mass, he tries to keep up with the music ministry by strumming along. Today, while the other fulltime workers were worshipping, he was even closing his eyes and trying to sing the songs. I saw in Sev something he really loves doing.

What is it that we love doing so much? What is the very thing that we do that ignites our hearts? What makes us sing with joy when we do such a thing? They say, "Find something you love doing, and you don't have to work a single day."

This reminds me of our livelihood. Our daily work, whether at work or in school. The word livelihood' comes from “lyuelode,” a 14th century Old English word which means “the way of life” or “the manner of living one’s life.” Since it is a way of life that supports our personal and family's needs, is our livelihood, life giving? Many of us complain about our jobs or livelihood more than we are thankful for it. For some, it's all about logging in on time and logging out on time and making sure we get paid for our work. I believe we have to assess some key points in our livelihood. We ask, "What is our company's end goal? It's vision and mission?" Is it something we believe in? Is it something we are proud of? What are the values that we are practicing or pursuing in our livelihood? Is it being lived out or is it compromised? Is what we are doing pleasing to the Lord? My perspective is that it would be great if we are in a livelihood that we are truly passionate about. But even if we land on something that is not fully aligned to our passion, I believe we have to sincerely consider these three important things. First, we dedicate all our works to the Lord, making us strive for excellence. Second, our character and integrity are not to be compromised. This will allow us to live a life of dignity and righteousness. Third, we think beyond our profit goals and see ourselves contributing to the noble vision of the workplace, specially if it is compatible with our Christian values. This will remind us that the little and big things we do lead to something worthwhile. With these, we gain peace. With these, we honor God.

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better (Colossians 1:10).

Let us remember that our livelihood gives us life and not the opposite. May we do our work passionately like how my son plays his ukulele. Let us grow in loving our work, fully dedicating it to our Lord Jesus.