My patient proceeded to inform me that he was a very busy and important man. Mr. 'Heart Attack' waiting to happen was in the hospital at age 43 with a dire prognosis of very severe coronary artery disease. He was scheduled to have bypass surgery the next day and had been admitted in the ICU prior to the surgery because of his history: heavy smoker, hypertension and a serious case of denial!
As I began to teach him about his upcoming surgery and review his health history it became apparent he had no intention of altering his inherently dangerous lifestyle. He pointed at his chest and promptly drew an imaginary outline around his heart. "I am here to get the 'problem' cut out of my chest" he boldly stated. He was going to continue smoking, working non stop 7 days a week and just do whatever he wanted in life. His major goal was to make more $ to add to the million he had already socked away by his 40th birthday. To say I could see a proverbial train wreck approaching would be an understatement, but what happened the next day is still imprinted clearly on my brain today though it happened nearly 25 years ago!
The next day I came on again to the 3-11 shift to see my patient transformed into the most critically ill person in the ICU ward. During surgery his heart had completely failed and they had to insert a device known as an intra aortic balloon pump. The IABP is threaded through the femoral artery in the groin area to assist the failing heart with additional pumping action. Unfortunately for my TYPE A aggressive patient, he was now completely out of control. He was not aware of his surroundings and kept trying to pull everything out of his body that was keeping him alive. He struggled for a few days and later died not having made one additional dollar or living to see his 44th birthday. Oddly enough during his entire ICU stay he had not a single visitor. He had worked himself to death.
We all will eventually die... but how we live matters more than we realize. Having worked for several years in ICU's in various hospitals I can tell you that no one leaving this planet asks for a calculator or a bank statement as their last request. When we're struggling to live... to take our very next breath we aren't helped by knowing we made more money than the man in the bed next to us in the ICU.
Work is important. What we do in our work day does have significance...but it's not everything. In the beginning God commanded man to work 6 days and reserve the seventh for rest. Do you know what it means to rest? Rest is very difficult for us when our sense of significance is totally wrapped around what we do apart from who we are. When we are disconnected from God and others in relationship, we live often very frantic lives. We want to have meaning and a sense of purpose but aren't sure how to make it happen.
What if you knew you were loved 'no matter what'. Your significance and sense of worth were not meant to be tethered conditionally to your 'performance' in life. God's love for you is the foundation stone of lasting security and significance. The Bible states this clearly, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 8-10)
It's when we receive the gift of grace through faith that we begin to rest on the inside. Work and career remain in balance when we live our lives in the power and grace of God. Instead of working ourselves to death....we can begin and end life in the rest that comes from grace. You are loved and God has prepared something magnificent for you to do with your life. Let him bring you to the place of balance and blessing!
Jim
<3 this. I have struggled with being a workaholic, balancing ministry and work and tyranny of the urgent with taking time out to read, think, pray, worship, rest, and just sit still. Good words to remember!
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