Work is only one part of life

After a years of throwing myself into my work, I was exhausted, stressed out and lonely. I hadn’t found anything like fulfillment.

What to do? I made a deliberate choice to start paying attention to my actual life–my soul. There was a church near my office, and I started dropping in just to soak up the peace and quiet. Before long, I joined a parish that nourished my soul with the beauty of its worship and the warmth of its community life.

Satisfying as my work is, it isn’t the most important part of my life. It’s contributed to my life, of course, with relationships that have lasted years, and so much more.

It took me years to figure out that work is only part of life. It’s in the other parts of life–family (human and otherwise), friends, parish life, home–and hobbies!–where we really find fulfillment.

This message is an excerpt from the blog “Hobbies remind us that work isn’t everything” by Audrey Novak Riley. Today we remember Philipp Nicolai, who died in 1608; Johann Heermann, who died in 1647; and Paul Gerhardt, who died in 1676; hymnwriters.

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