Today I had lunch with a couple of coworkers who I don't usually get a chance to hang out with. In passing they mentioned that they appreciated how my American colleague and I make it a point to find each other at the end of the work day to leave together on time. We've made it a goal to go home when home calls- which I guess is largely arbitrary to a personal degree. As best as we can, we try to finish the pressing work we have and the lessons we teach for next day. Whatever can wait will wait because there are more pressing things like being home with family.
I've noticed that upon coming here to HK that the culture isn't just to stay because there's a lot of work but also because someone somewhere is watching and evaluating your performance, loyalty, and duty simply based on how long you've clocked in. Then longer you stay, the more you're noticed by those above you. I guess it's pretty important if you want to get ahead in a competitive city like Hong Kong.
Here in Hong Kong I've also noticed the lines between family and work have been blurred and crossed. So many workers have to toil long hours. It is not uncommon to see 12 - 13 hour work days. Even though our school doesn't demand what the business world would, I still find struggle difficult. It is especially in the arena of the Christian school this balance is often skewed for those who have been "called" to serve these kids. More time spent in the office grading papers or coaching extra-curricular actives is synonymous to being more faithful, more obedient, more godly. Teachers work to the degree of wrecking their bodies physically and spiritually because they want to serve the Lord.
I find myself wondering where that line is drawn. What about our families? Are we not called them as well? Do we not have a duty to faithfully serve our kids, to encourage our wives and to support our husbands? We give our best time to our work and leave the remaining tatters to the people closest to us.
My two colleagues mentioned to me that they often have to remind themselves to rest in the face of never-ceasing work. In a culture that has programmed them to go, they need to be prompted to stop. One colleague so poignantly explained that when you've been taught since childhood to use every waking moment to complete the next day's homework and study for the next quiz or examination just so you can catch up with a system that will always outrun you, you won't understand the value of sabbath. No minute is left unturned and every break is monetized. You cannot beat the system when you have been born in it.
I want to be more hopeful and believe that there is a choice. All this is a stark reminder to me to not sell out to a system that wants to rob me of my soul and enslave me to the guilt of work and duty. God created us for more than to be yoked to our work and bound by joyless obligation or the pursuit of earthly acclaim. We are called to fulfill our God-given passions and work for His glory and not just our boss or company. We find our dignity when we are seen as His people, His instruments and vessels instead of just components of a mechanized body to be replaced when we falter. Perhaps as much as our schedules and deadlines are beyond our control, we can redeem the attitude and motive in which we do our work. If we fill our work with joy and meaning as we do it "unto the Lord" then we have render busyness powerless to dictate our lives with guilt and bitterness.
In the face of a culture that resounds the message that we are machines, we must proclaim the opposite truth even louder in the way we live. Let us do the work called out for us heartily and also love God called us to just as heartily.
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