“…I worshipped (idolized) my job, and to some extent, I’m still guilty of it….”

Idolatry: Where anything or anybody is ahead of God.  We are all Isolators to one extent or another….but maybe we just don’t realize it.  Here’s how I see it.  As I was coming up through the career ranks…. I worshipped (idolized) my job, and to some extent, I’m still guilty of it.  I was committed 24/7/365 to my job… whatever it took… I did it.  Whenever it was necessary… I did it.  I love it, and I thrived on it.  I even refused to take more than an occasional Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, but was back at work on Monday.  In fact, I NEVER took a full week off from work from 1960 through 1983; and when I took a week off in 1983…. When I got back to work that Monday, I resigned, and went into business for myself (worked less – made more).  No sacrifice was too big to make for my job.  I missed many ball games with my children, and if it weren’t for my bride, my two boys would have never known what sports were.  I was married to my job.  What did I get in return?  I got plenty…believe me; but the better question would be:  Would I have enjoyed the same degree of success if I had not been “so committed?  That is something that I’ll NEVER know.  I can’t advise for or against it.  What I can advise, though, is to exercise a healthy “balance.”  One can still work very hard and even sacrifice a few vacations; but to be so “addicted” (as I was) to your job, can be very detrimental to your family life, social life, and even your spiritual life.  I compromised anything and everything for my job, and my career.  It was way too much, and I wish I had softened that process…. Yielding more to my family, and to God.  I can’t go back in time, but I can, and will, advise others to be more thoughtful, caring, and less parochial in their approach to their career; as there are more important things in life.  Matthew 22:35-40– And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. …Blessings… cjlb…6/12/14.

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