Colossians 3:12-14
New International Version
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Richard Sennett
The Corrosion of Character (p. 26-27), W.W. Norton & Company, 1998
This conflict between family and work poses some questions about adult experience itself. How can long-term purposes be pursued in a short-term society? How can durable social relations be sustained? How can a human being develop a narrative of identity and life history in a society composed of episodes and fragments? The conditions of the new economy feed instead on experience which drifts in time, from place to place, from job to job…Short-term capitalism threatens to corrode…character, particularly those qualities of character which bind human beings to one another and furnishes each with a sense of sustainable self.
Comment: (One)
Challenging quote.
When faced with a corroding, negative or otherwise dangerous element in the culture, I find it helpful to wonder what the Spirit might be up to.
In the case of short term job stints, there are formation and learning opportunities that these briefer journeys offer.
Work and family might not be the most helpful umbrella categories to use in our challenging environment. "Work" might be broken down into: training years, exploring-contexts-and-employers years, focused-contribution years, and legacy years.
By doing so, the positive, kingdom-building, discipleship-enhancing possibilities associated with each stage might be easier to identify and appreciate.