Seven months after I was laid off as a nine-year employee of the University of Lethbridge, I finally found a job.<\/p>\n
It was a relief.<\/p>\n
I had sent out dozens of resumes and had several interviews, but nothing seemed to come to fruition. Finally, after nearly running out of severance pay, I found a job with a solid, growing company. That’s an entirely different post.<\/p>\n
Having been there for three weeks now, I’ve noticed a few things. It’s a stressful, hectic work environment seasoned well with colourful language. It’s much different compared to my last work environment.<\/p>\n
The downside to this job is my shift runs Wednesday to Sunday. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the first time in my adult life I have had to work Sundays. The last time I was job hunting, I had three job offers, and ignoring a job that required me to work Sundays was an option. This time, I had no choices; this was my only job offer.<\/p>\n
I was heartbroken when I found out I had to work Sundays.<\/p>\n
Sundays have for many years been a special day for me. It has been a day unlike others: the only work I do is church related; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t participate in general entertainments; and I try to do gospel-related, enriching activities.<\/p>\n
Having to work on Sundays is going to make this very difficult to maintain.<\/p>\n
After I accepted the job (partly because I needed money to support my family and partly because of opportunities promised in the future), I thought about this some more and realized there were some things I could do to keep some semblance of spirituality in my life.<\/p>\n
Luckily, my calling as ward executive secretary doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t require much my being at church on Sunday. A lot of what I have to do on Sundays can be done electronically or dropped off at the church before church starts.<\/p>\n
I was able to arrange my dinner break to coincide with one of the wards in our building. At least, I can sing two of the hymns and\u00c2\u00a0partake\u00c2\u00a0in the sacrament.<\/p>\n
We are going to continue being faithful in participating in our monthly ward temple night.<\/p>\n
I am singing in the stake Christmas cantata.<\/p>\n
I dress in my Sunday best even though everyone else is dressed in jeans and t-shirts.<\/p>\n
Today was my first Sunday shift (the last two weeks were training Monday to Friday), and I have to say that I have never appreciated a Sacrament Meeting as much as I did today. As I mentioned above, my stressful, hectic, colourful work environment makes it difficult to feel the Spirit.<\/p>\n
Going to church and being among my fellow saints today was a real blessing. For 40 minutes, all the swearing was gone. All the phone ringing was gone. All the worrying and stress was gone. For 40 minutes, I could relax, pray, and meditate. Even with screaming babies, today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sacrament Meeting was a harbour of strength during a spiritually turbulent day.<\/p>\n
Today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience gave me an entirely different perspective on what it means when we refer to Sunday as a day of rest. Rest indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"