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Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Worship We Go

Published: April 13, 2021

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Worship We GoWhen conversations on campus turn to worst job from my past, G.U. employees recall plenty of miserable tales from former workplaces:

  • The Hagen-Dazs server who developed carpal tunnel from scooping ice cream kept in a too cold freezer.
  • The frenzied nightshift nurse who juggled watching heart monitors with meeting urgent needs in the emergency room and admitting patients.
  • The forklift operator, an achiever by nature, removing boxes from shelves all day every day, only to see the shelves immediately fill again.

Poor equipment, shifting priorities, unreasonable expectations and distrustful supervisors undermine positivity every day on the job. And its too bad, because research tells us that a workers positive mindset boosts more than a sense of personal wellbeing; it improves engagement, collaboration, creativity and productivity.

Cultivating Habits That Increase Positivity

We can increase positivity at work by cultivating certain daily habits, says Shawn Achor, author of New York Times bestseller The Happiness Advantage (Currency 2010). He advocates little routines, like writing down three things for which you are grateful each day, or taking two minutes to journal about your most meaningful experience in the past 24 hours.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Worship We GoEmployees at Greenville University have their own versions of mindful gratitude at work. At a Strategy 52 retreat last winter, participants explored the idea of giving their work as worship. As the conversation flowed, images emerged of elevated purpose and divine partnership in the workaday world.

In our department, we start every day with a short devotion and prayer, says Director of Facilities Mark Owens MBA 17. His team prays for safety, wisdom to perform their jobs well and the ability to see others through Jesus eyes.

Controller Barb Sands serves internal and external constituents on finance-relatedHi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Worship We Go issues. But ultimately I serve the Lord, she says. She cites Colossians 3:23: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart . . . It is the Lord Jesus Christ you are serving. As she drives to work, she asks God to fill her with a kind, loving and grateful heart. These sacred moments often influence her response once the phone starts ringing.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Worship We GoEach day, Director of Financial Aid David Kessinger 94 guides students and their families through a maze of rigid federal, state and institutional regulations in search of funds that might relieve financial stress. If worship begins with turning ones grateful heart heavenward, David worships with each solution he finds. Im thankful to our Lord for providing the resources, he says.

Grant writer and researcher Jennifer Wilson prays with her co-workers in the OfficeHi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Worship We Go of Advancement three mornings each week, often for specific projects. Prayers for our work are consecrations, she says. We dedicate who we are and what we do to God for His purpose and glory.

More Than Happy

The image Jennifer paints transcends personal happiness and approaches the threshold of joy, much like the Psalmist who proclaims, Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

Note: Fifty-two weeks each year, Greenville University employees work to create an environment where students thrive. Strategy 52 retreats are designed to help employees thrive too, by fostering renewal and facilitating deeper connections with co-workers and with God. A version of this article first appeared in the Summer 2018 RECORD.

Learn More

Personal stories from our extended university family about work, vocation and God's call

When you fund a G.U. scholarship, you help students understand work as a response to the risen Christ who fills, equips and sends them. Thank your for giving.

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