The home is the site of work for both genders. Home is the workplace, the place of production. The care of small children and household chores are wrapped into daily work production.
Either. Our homes, farms, condos, and apartments look similar in a pandemic-responsive world. The big difference is that in 1855 no one “got paid.” Your pay was your dinner and the clothes on your back. Today, almost all of us are not paid by the household needs, but by helping reach corporate objectives.
Flexible, remote work did not originate with COVID.
Working from home isn’t nearly as recent as many think. It actually has a much longer past than our history of working in offices. The growth of remote since the pandemic is ultimately a return to an early and long-used way of working.
The Industrial Revolution, which ran until 1840, changed everything about workspace. Factory work, particularly in the textile industry, meant leaving home and “toiling” in outside work environments. The industrial age launched a movement of skilled work outside of the home. Employers set up work environments where workers would travel to an employer-provided environment and work with the employer’s equipment. Production moved from the home to the work-site.
The Great Boss, God Himself, does not care if we work remotely. Nor does it matter if we work from the office. God’s desire is that we have “life to the full” (John 10:10). We were created for abundant living. God’s plan says that he wants us to be fruitful, and growing. He wants to see multiplication and expansion, as well as structure and organization (Gen. 1:28). Where we do God’s plan is up to us.
Where do you find the joy of work? Maybe you enjoy the commute, utilizing the time for personal reflection and planning. Having others working around you could help you be more creative or encouraged. Maybe it is the privacy of uninterrupted work available at the office. If the office is your best space, use the office.
It could be that you find the office overbearing. You like to set up your work among the energy and latte of a table at a coffee shop. It could be that the flexibility of working from home allows you to live an incorporated life. Maybe, you are the one who doesn’t mind Zoom and can work as a part of a remote team. It could be a mix is best for you, from home to work and back to home again.
The key is to spend time thinking about what best fits your God-given talents and abilities. Work in a manner that allows you to operate out of a place of joy. That is your special place.
You are going to have to produce likes it’s 2022, but don’t be afraid to live likes it’s 1822… with email.
How did the concepts of work and joy ever get separated?
Questions for Reflection/Journaling
- Think back through your college/study experience (it could be long ago). In what environment where you most effective? Do you hide out in the library to study? Maybe you sat in the Student Union to do your schoolwork? Did the desk in your dorm do the trick? Where did you do your best work?
- Where (location/situation/space) have you been your most productive in your work history?
- What about your current workspace arrangement(s) allows you to operate out of joy? How does your current workspace arrangement(s) not bring joy?
- How can you adjust your current work environment to see greater multiplication, expansion, structure, and organization? Will this bring “abundant living?” How?
